When James Franklin took over the Penn State job in 2014, he identified the thin offensive line room as a major issue plaguing the roster. Over his decade-long tenure, that room became a force to be reckoned with for the Lions’ opponents. The current Virginia Tech head coach wants to do the same at Blacksburg, and we can already see some signs of change.

As per the latest update, Virginia Tech has 11 offensive linemen listed at 310 lbs or more. The last time VT saw such a big, strong O-line was in the 2020 season. Because of that offensive line plan, RB Khalil Herbert had an amazing season and broke the school record for yards per carry with 1,182 yards on 154 attempts and averaged 7.7 yards per carry.

However, the O-line room didn’t fare well over the last five years. To change that, James Franklin has signed 11 new linemen (7 high schoolers and 4 transfers) in a single window as part of his philosophy, where he wants to have 22-25 players in the room. The idea is simple. Franklin sees the offensive line as a “developmental” position group. That means there are no “set-in-stone” depth charts. The tackles and guards are regularly rotated as the team grinds through a season.

Under the new offensive line coach, Matt Moore, Virginia Tech’s O-line will have players like Aidan Lynch, Layth Ghannam, Braelin Moore, Benjamin Eziuka, and Logan Howland. To add to that, there are also some key developmental pieces in Tyrell Simpson and Roseby Lubintus.

Last season, Penn State’s passing game got derailed after Drew Allar was ruled out for the season midway through their campaign. However, the run game still got going, to an extent, behind running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton. Allen had a career-best year, rushing for 1,303 yards, and Singleton recorded 549 rushing yards. That was also down to an offensive line that was years in the making.

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Franklin is now preparing his Hokies for a future incident so that a QB injury won’t stop them from winning games if the O-line helps the RBs like Marcellous Hawkins and Elijah “Bill” Davis run the ball. This offensive approach matches Franklin’s mindset to improve Virginia Tech for the upcoming season.

“I’m going to walk the facility and make it very obvious that these things are nice and first class, and these things are dated and problematic, and we need to get them fixed and fixed fast,” said Franklin. “There’s work that needs to be done. But there are also promises that have been made. That’s all of it.”

Hiring James Franklin could prove to be the smartest move for VT

James Franklin built a reputation in Happy Valley for consistency and strong recruiting. Now, within months of arriving at VT, he transformed a recruiting class that sat outside the top 100 into a top-25 haul while also assembling one of the strongest transfer portal groups in the ACC. Interestingly, with that type of foundation, the Hokies are showing up in early postseason chatter.

According to CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford, a way-too-early bowl projection has Virginia Tech facing Washington in the Holiday Bowl. However, early rankings place Washington’s schedule around No. 7 to No. 10 in the B1G in terms of difficulty.

“We’re projecting that will affect various bowl scenarios. James Franklin should get off to a quick start at Virginia Tech and have the Hokies competing near the top of the ACC very soon,” stated Crawford.

Even Tom Fornelli echoed that optimism, pointing to Franklin’s early recruiting momentum and staff additions. Despite that, expectations come with caution, as VT will rely on several new starters and young contributors while navigating challenging road trips to SMU, Miami, and Clemson. In that scenario, this O-line plan could be a difference-maker for the Hokies.