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Did James Franklin Troll Penn State on Signing Day?

James Franklin has a chance to make history for both himself and Penn State in the Orange Bowl Thursday, Jan. 9 against Notre Dame.
GLENDALE, AZ - DECEMBER 31: Penn State head coach James Franklin interacts with his team after the victory during the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal playoff game against the Boise State Broncos on Tuesday December 31, 2024 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ. (Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire)

If it wasn’t bad enough that former Penn State HC James Franklin took plenty of commits with him to Virginia Tech, he might have added insult to injury.

Andy Bitter, who covers VT for Tech Sideline, spotted a box of Crumbl cookies on a table at VT’s Signing Day ceremony.

Ordinarily, nobody would have noticed, but the context makes people wonder if this wasn’t a coincidence.

Earlier this week, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake became the favorite for the Penn State job, which was opened when PSU fired Franklin Oct. 12.

Sitake ended up staying at BYU, and among the BYU backers that rallied to keep him in Provo was Crumbl CEO Jason McGowan. If Franklin was indeed trolling, this wouldn’t be the first example of a cookie-themed dig at PSU.

It also wouldn’t be the first example of Signing Day shade between Virginia Tech and Penn State.

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In 2023, Brent Pry, who was Penn State’s defensive coordinator before taking the head-coaching job at Virginia Tech, referred to Penn State as the “Nittany Cryins” (Pry claimed there was no disrespected intended.)

Less than two years later, Pry and Franklin were both fired within a month of each other. But their friendship never waned, and in fact grew stronger during Virginia Tech’s pursuit of Franklin to be its next coach (Franklin teared up when talking about Pry during his introductory press conference).

Now, Franklin is at VT, and Pry is one of his closest allies.

More important than whether or not Franklin trolled Penn State is the fact that eight of Penn State’s former commits plan on following Franklin to VT.

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