PORTAL POWER: Virginia Tech & James Franklin REBUILD Fast—Part II

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. James Franklin and the Virginia Tech Hokies will be relevant in year one. Lockdown presents The Portal, the daily podcast covering college football recruiting and everything NIL, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I think that the perception is by year three at the latest, they should be one of the top four rosters in the league. SMU, Clemson Miami, the other Albatross here is Louisville. They're in the same spot as Virginia Tech and I think that's the team we're going to compare them with a lot and that's why I say this. The question is reality, so this is a great question and a great point by Katie. Perception is always reality, whether it's fair or not, it's usually not very fair with

1:01college football. Because fans always have a different opinion of their team than what is reality. If the wind total like Virginia Tech is six and a half, their fans are predicting nine and ten wins. Pick a school, it's that way. Michigan State should be terrible this year. I bet you there are fans who think they're going seven or eight wins. Very terrible. It's year one. The wind total is like four and a half or something like that, it's terrible. The point is still the same. Perception is reality. Can you beat a way,ville, for key recruits and then beat them on the field? Jeff Brahms, your respected coach, really good coach. What about Tony Elliott or Clemson assistant in an offense coordinate? That's a guy that's pretty important. It's a rival, it's got Clemson ties, they're a program that's not considered to be high watermark in terms of talent. You've got way easier admission standards than Virginia, just truth. That's another one. To me, Louisville and Virginia, the two you need to look at, and if you want to throw

2:03Georgia Tech in, that's fine, they're another team that's around six and a half win total right now. Frank Keakin coach, though, he's at his alma mater, great O'Hine guy, I'd imagine they're going to be a thorn in a lot of people's sides. Those mid-level teams, if they do not pass them by the end of year three, I think you're going to see, Frank, we'll get a little bit of flag. If he hasn't passed them by your end of year four, then it'll be a whole different ball game. Salty, Katie, well, Virginia Tech being one of Miami's inexplicable losses, you already know what Katie's going to say to that, Salty, come on now. This is a predictable answer, and I'm going to go ahead and make this statement now. At some point, I need to get Katie assured that says, I love Mario Cristobal. We need to get her to take a photo and post it here on the four podcast. Let's see. Katie says, the way the ACC rigged the schedules for 26 makes it way too obvious. They won an ACC title game of Miami in Southern Methodism, 100% agree with that.

3:08Why a home and home with Notre Dame? Because Notre Dame is not an ACC game for Miami or SMU. Yeah, it's interesting. Both SMU and Miami play at Notre Dame in November. But even though they're in the lead, probably the two best teams, barring something, I'm for saying, Katie's right, SMU doesn't play Miami at home or on the road. It's no different, by the way, just to Katie's point, this is not a one-week deal. Go look at Texas Tech schedule. Out of conferences at joke, they don't play BYU. I don't think they play Kansas State. They got Arizona State at home. It's like, come on, man. It's obvious they're doing everything they can to get BYU to the conference title game with his few losses as possible and they're trying to get Tech there undefeated. No doubt about it. So these leagues, and there's some shenanigans.

4:10Salty, I'll always set you up in the chat, Smitty. I'm a big fan of yours, and I think your show is excellent. Thank you. I do appreciate that. Katie says, and here we go. See, Mario snatched a feat from the Jaws and Victory better than any head coach in college. Football, he specializes in turning ice cream in Decat Poo with the best of them. That is one of the funniest lines I've ever read in my entire life. We got here. Salty, Katie Virginia Tech is my sneaky choice to beat Miami at their place. Mario is going to be Mario. By the way, correct me if I'm wrong. That game's a Friday night game. That doesn't help. It does not help. Salty says, Smitty, you're right about the staff. Coach Beamer had his DC for the entire coaching career there, and that guy turned out a bunch of head coach offers.

5:11It matters, man. Think about when Dabbo was at Clemson. Vinimals could have went a few different places, but he wanted a job that had cachet. That's cool. I get it. So he waited, he got Oklahoma. That's got funny cachet. Oklahoma's got national titles. Highsman winners and a lot of wins. Okay. What help Clemson for about five years? And he could have been somewhere else. Katie, Miami, Miami, Miami, the Perennial, three, four, fifth place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Mario could take the Seahawks and screw it up. If nothing else, Katie definitely has one liners. Art Grawl, I just came from a Penn State team practice. I'm liking what I saw. I've gone to a couple under Franco and he had question marks. Well, I'm not saying that that's not true. I've never been to a Penn State practice of any kind. Let alone one ran by James Franklin or anybody else.

6:12But I do have a couple of points about that. That's a different roster. Penn State defensively had guys that were waiting to play. Defensive bat, linebacker edge. The only spot they didn't have depth was Detackle. It was bad. The hardly anybody has Detackle depth. There's aren't many of them. Here's the funny part, Virginia Texans and the same boat, but their expectations aren't the same. We're not Penn State. So you're one, you can kind of grind through that. They need to have a result by the end of year two. And we'll see where it goes. But I imagine after another portal cycle, some of the guys came in, we'll work out, they'll get washed out. So the recruits will get washed out. We'll see. But Virginia Tex should, and this is a very important word, should be in a circumstance, where they're going to win some games again. The system ought to be pretty simple.

7:14It's plug and play. The head coach and defense corner know each other. They've worked together before and they're in Happy Valley. I think that they will be competitive across the board and they will be at the very least. They win six games. They're going to be a thorn on the side. Everybody they play. It kind of comes down to the quarterback play. And I don't have a ton of faith. And Ethan Grunkamire, I haven't seen enough of him. As it played a ton, he wasn't great when he did. He was okay. But they need to find a way to get into the end zone where it's running the ball, short pass in game, whatever. That's what spring balls for. I'm a little anxious there. Defense, I think Penn State had a good defense and you'll see similar results on a couple of years of Virginia Tech. They've got some of those Penn State D-Lime and stuff. They won't be quite to that level. But with Brent Pi calling the D, they'll be substantial. They'll be better than we're last year. They can't be much, but they were not clutch. That was a bad team. To that end, now I just want to open it up in this regard.

8:16If you're in the chat, this is going to be the ACC questions. I'm going to run through the win totals. Again, just on the schedule for Virginia Tech. Just want to put it in perspective. Fireway, anything you want. Don't care if it's Pittsburgh, it's a Louisville, Wake Forest, North Carolina, NC State, whatever it is you want to do, Cal, JKS. Just want to talk a little bit about what Virginia Tech is going into. This is the perception meets reality. I'm just going to go one by one. Again, I talked a little bit about Louisville. That's an important one. They're going to be measured a little bit against Georgia Tech. Then of course, Virginia, that's your rival in state who has way higher admission standards. What is the perception for James Franklin in year three? Does he have to win 10 games in year three to keep everybody satisfied? Perhaps if the big boosters are going to write those kinds

9:18of checks, I could see that, and I get it. That's fair. What is the pecking order there? I mentioned, again, Louisville, Georgia Tech, in Virginia, is there somebody else? I mean, if Cal, they've got a head coach, and it's an elite recruiter now, and they've got JKS. For this year, next year, he'll probably turn pro-adjury year. But if Cal passes you or has a better year and you can see my perception of Cal is not very good, especially in the east and where I would down south, I'm being very nice. If Virginia Tech struggles with Cal, Stanford, God forbid Boston College, who is there terrible? Then there are some differences that need to be brought up, and that could, in fact, recruiting and the transfer portal to, are you headed in the right direction? That's what parents and recruits and the trainers

10:19and head coaches at the high school level of recruits you're gonna ask. In right position. One thing no one tells you about hiring globally is how unclear the costs can be. I recently needed to hire an assistant who would work remotely, but I didn't have the first clue where to start. So I've seen firsthand how important it is to get an expert to help out. Pebble is an AI-powered global human resources platform built for founders, HR leaders, and operators who are hiring and supporting teams around the world. Pebble helps you hire, pay, and manage talent in over 185 countries with fast onboarding that can be done in minutes. Instead of juggling separate tools for contracts, payroll, benefits, and compliance, Pebble brings everything together with built-in guidance and local expertise to support you. The fastest growing companies in the world use Pebble to stay organized and reduce risk. Bottom line, it simplifies global people operations so you can spend more time growing the business and supporting your team. Our new standard discounted pricing at $399 per month per employee helps you contain costs. Go to hipebble.ai to get a free estimate.

11:20That's hipebble.ai for a free estimate. That's where Virginia Tech have that cash egg. I'm not sure they really do, but we'll see. Salty says, if Franklin wins nine plus games in year three, he will be supported by the boosters. I would think so. The only question I hate doing this, but I gotta do it. And this is right up Katie's alley. But in the first three years, this is off the top of my head. So I didn't prepare this. But how many big games does Virginia Tech win? And when I say big games, I mean against either a top 20 competition or B-road games, even against the middle level team like a Georgia Tech next year or whatever, winning road games is really hard. Are they gonna win more in a couple of those kinds of games a year? That's the thing that Penn State struggled might only with, especially the top five to top 10 kind

12:20of teams, they would struggle a lot more. Katie says, in year three, Franklin will be in the ACC title game versus SMU. Not sure why Katie thinks it's SMU. I'm sure she will be happy to tell us fire away in the chat, Katie. I'm a big relashway fan too. So if it's that reason, we're in lockstep. But I think at the same time, this is just my opinion. You're talking about year three that could, well, you know what, Grunkamire would be a fifth year senior. So there is that. If he continues to improve, I just thought about that. That could be, that could be a factor. But what if they don't make the ACC title game, especially if they don't with the fifth year senior quarterback? The perception with the boosters would be a little different. By the way, this isn't Virginia Tech.

13:22This is everybody in the way that it coast conference. If you don't get Georgia Tech this year, in other words, you don't beat them, they lost Haines King, they lost their coordinator, and they lost air and file of the guy they thought was the air parent. The coordinator took him with him to Florida. That sucks, but it's no different than what. Franklin did, he took a bunch of players with him. So I mean, this is, you know, well, I was state, they were completely robbed. Those players are now in happy valid Penn State. So it is what it is. I think that Virginia Tech, again, Louisville, Virginia and Georgia Tech, they're gonna be kind of measured against those schools. You could throw in SMU. They're better than what I think Virginia Tech is right now by quite a substantial margin, but in two years, well, they'd be ahead of SMU then. Maybe, maybe not. It's not a walk by any means. Salty.

14:24Franklin is very similar to Brian Kelly. Oh God, he won't lose the games he should win by year three. For what was it? Notre Dame, they won like 20 some games in a row against opponents, not ranked in the top 25. It was pretty good. I don't know if Franklin's quite on that level, but it's pretty close. That's the one thing they were the same. Franklin's better recruiter. Katie, because Mario is the worst head coach in college football, game head coach in college football. Lastly, in Franklin, our head and shoulders better on game day. You think Franklin is a great, maybe I'm putting words in Katie's mouth here. Do you think Franklin's a great game day coach? I do not. I do not get that sense. Oh, he's terrible. But I don't think he's elite. I'm not saying Mario's elite either. If I'm getting me wrong, he's at his weirdness and Katie, if you want to talk about the field goal,

15:26or if you want to talk about the Georgia Tech game, but whatever you want to talk about for Mario, I'm sure you'll get there. And there's no doubt. And Katie says, and Braum will Braum you. Yeah, on game day, like, I'm just going to go ahead and say it. The first quarter, quarter and a half of the Louisville at Miami game last year. You talk about coaching malpractice. That game, Ward have mercy. Braum ran circles around the Miami staff in that game. He had the men's a really good defense coordinator. He got smoked too. That was, that was about as bad as it's going to get. To that end, I would imagine that they're going to remember that the next time they play a Louisville. They'll be more focused. But it is what it is. Looking at the league, a couple of the other teams that I'm curious about. Kind of Brian do anything with Boston College. They're projected with three and a half wins, but they got a young quarterback that's fairly talented. I just don't think they got anything of the trenches. They can't block nobody. They can't get no sacks.

16:28That's problem. Then when you move a little bit to the West, Pittsburgh, they lost their best linebacker. He transferred to Texas at Hertz. Their defense attack will transfer to Notre Dame. That one really hurt. You don't have many detacles like that kid. Frances Brew, he's a really good player. I don't think there are many other teams though that are going to challenge outside the ones I've talked about a little bit. And then Pittsburgh, the league is just down. And that brings me to the final point. I'm sure Katie will love this for the state. I have no idea. I cover for the state. Walked on cylinders. There's not much to say about them right now until something changes at multiple levels of the top. Not just Mike Norbell, but the AD and or the president probably because those guys, at least in my opinion, support Norbell, he may not be gone even after this year. That is going to help Virginia Tech.

17:31If Norbell was brought back for 27 and the word helped me, I might start to go fund me for my own psychiatrist reasons that that's the case. Fort estate could be down for the count for a while. I don't think anybody's ever out of it long term because you just need to hide the right coach, but at some point, you would think Fort estate would find a way, but they've won 70 games in two years, seven. And have not won a road game. Not won a road game since they beat Florida in 2023 at the swamp. So the league is really weird right now. Virginia Tech has been down. Traditionally, that's one of the better teams in the week. Fort estate is down. SMU, a team that's not even normally a part of the league. They're projected by most, myself included. Katie and everybody else, I think, too. Probably the second most likely team to end up in the ACC title game now. Katie's gotta tell you, Clemson's one in the league.

18:32But overall, Clemson's not Clemson right now, until otherwise proven after the year they just had. One thing no one tells you about hiring globally is how unclear the costs can be. I recently needed to hire an assistant who would work remotely, but I didn't have the first clue where to start. So I've seen firsthand how important it is to get an expert to help out. Pebble is an AI-powered global human resources platform built for founders, HR leaders and operators who are hiring and supporting teams around the world. Pebble helps you hire, pay, and manage talent in over 185 countries with fast onboarding that can be done in minutes. Instead of juggling separate tools for contracts, payroll, benefits, and compliance, Pebble brings everything together with built-in guidance and local expertise to support you. The fastest growing companies in the world use Pebble to stay organized and reduce risks. Bottom line, it simplifies global people operations so you can spend more time growing the business and supporting your team. Our new standard discounted pricing at $399 per month per employee helps you contain costs. Go to hipebble.ai to get a free estimate.

19:34That's hipbll.ai for a free estimate. Georgia Tech, they lost their quarterback. Probably weeks for a year, they're not gonna be great. Pittsburgh, lost their best linebacker, and detackled to the portal. Got a good young quarterback, but got to stop somebody. BC's terrible. Virginia, we're not sure yet a quarterback. Wake Forest and North Carolina was a bomb last year. They improved his year, went on, but whatever. The one team that I'm excited about, just to see, and I've waited to say this until now, is in C-State. They've got some good transfers. C.J. Bailey's got a gun to kid that I got to know during his high school days, like a shaman on Madonna. He improved immensely. I didn't think when I first saw him as a junior, he was any good. He tried to rifle screen passes to guys. Easy, easy does it there, Big fella. He's about 6667, he's big dude. Got a cannon.

20:35But now they've got Georgia trader that transferred in. Chance Robinson that's transferred in. They got some guys. I know they lost Hollywood's mothers to Texas, but whatever, the point still remains. Virginia Tech and some of these teams coming up, they're not trying just to get Miami. NC State is defying the white men. Now, their defense is probably gonna be terrible. Now, I'm being nice. But offensively, they might wider up and they might just come out throwing because any of their defenses are gonna be great. They're gonna be a fun team this year next. I'm really curious to see NC State. I'm really, really happy. All right, Salty, gotta say I just love Katie's crystal ball takes. They never fail to make my daddy. Katie, give Braum my name is talent and watch out. Yeah, he would be absolutely tremendous. Anybody wants to dispute that, have had it, but I mean, there's no doubt in my mind he would do well. The history expert 82, enjoying the Virginia Tech Show, they are my second favorite team after Notre Dame.

21:37Thank you. Glad you stopped in to check it out. I think they're gonna be relevant this year. Again, like I think their floor is five wins. I mean, they're gonna be competitive. And they got enough guys that are familiar with that roster, you know, on the staff that they can do a few more things a little quickly, we don't want to quickly. Virginia, Peanut, Salty says, Smitty, what will be the next position you review in your, oh, your school sucks at? I don't know. Um, that's a great, I haven't even thought about it. Give me a minute on that. I might be quarterback. We could just do something like that. Maybe we do that tomorrow. It's not a bad idea. The history expert 82, hello, says Salty Peanut's. Katie says, Renegative Chief Asiola is a great entrance. Yes, it is. It's one of the best in college football history. Katie, I'm betting more that Mario won't as much as Clemson will. I'm betting against Mario.

22:39Katie, we know that you're betting against Mario. That should be, you should start a company that's called I'm betting against Mario. I think we should all fund it because you would be all in on that. Salty says to Katie, you should see the entrance. The master writer makes leading Texas tech onto the field on a black stallion. The stallion once ran over a referee that didn't get out of the way. I did not know that. That's dangerous. My mom had horses for 50 years. That's not an easy animal to get out of the way. And once it's coming, it's, that's a lot of muscle, man. Holy moly, that's really crazy. I didn't, I did not know that. Wow, I really feel sorry for that, Rev. Last thoughts here on the show today. First off, thank you for stopping in to everybody. Again, six and a half win total for Virginia Tech. If I had to guess, I would say right there, but I think they got three losses, kind of walk it in. Miami, Clemson and that's it.

23:41You were all the road. Good. So I'm going to guess over at seven wins if I had to guess, but I think the six and a half total is pretty much right where it needs to be. That's just, that's just the way it is, man. Katie says, can't beat Inter Sandman, yeah. I'm a big Metallica fan anyway, but Virginia Tech does a great job with that. The students and the fans, they all love it. Metallica went to a concert there at Wayne Stadium, not that long ago. Texas Tech routinely places number one in NCAA horsemanship, not surprised, not surprised. If you should in North Texas, some of the biggest ranches in the world are in North Texas up there in the panhand, to that end. I think we're gonna, we're gonna let it rip right there for today. I'm gonna give you to everybody that came into the chat, appreciate it. At Salty's best, I think tomorrow, we'll do your school sucks a little bit,

24:42but it's gonna be about quarterback first. It's gonna be, shall we say some teams that I need to question? Like, George is a weird one. They get kids to commit, but they don't sign. I don't know how I'm supposed to rank them. We're gonna talk about quarterback recruiting and fit tomorrow. Did you got, did you get the right guy is probably the easiest way to say, but did you get the right guy that will also stick around, not just fit your system, but what would they wait their turn? From talking to people, that's the new thing, and I don't know how you grade that. Nobody wants to wait till the third year to play. So, I'll have a few comments on that tomorrow that might make a few people be mad, maybe some fathers get ruffled, but that's all right. I'm not here to make everybody happy. I'm here to tell it like it is. So, with that, thank you very much for checking out the portal podcast. It's always a pleasure to talk about these different teams. Virginia Tech, we kind of a light overview, win total, got 27 transfers.

25:43We're just getting started in recruiting. They only have one commitment, a kid that's from St. Francis, I believe, D. Lyman. So they got a long way to go, but that's gonna be a relevant program. They're gonna do some things. So, everybody have a good day. This has been the portal podcast. Introducing the all new Mazda CX-5. Featuring more connection. Hey, Google, where's the nearest Pilates class? Safety that has your back. More discovery on the scenic routes. More passion in the details. And more control in changing weather. The all new Mazda CX-5. More to move every side of you. See it in five films at MazdaUSA.com slash five sides. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequence is shortened and simulated. The winter games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events. You only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the winter games on Fandall

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