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Recruit Report: Brailyn Franklin

Texas Transplant Brailyn Franklin has a very good chance at becoming a Hokie. Thanks to strong early interest from the coaching staff, the big time athlete might just be the next VT DE or LB.

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There are names you frequently see pop up in the recruiting circuit, especially with certain special circumstances at certain schools. For the Hokies, that's Brailyn Franklin. A native Texan, Franklin moved up to Virginia for his junior year. His parents and family recently came up from Texas to visit Blacksburg with him, which kind of puts the writing on the wall- you don't bring everyone up and out from Arlington to just have a good ol' time, generally. He's seriously interested. Franklin is a NoVA prospect right now, playing at Battlefield High School. The Hokies were his first offer, which puts us in good position to reel him in.

He was offered by Coach Fuente and his staff, with Bud Foster and Charley Wiles being his main recruiters. Right now things are lined up for Franklin to become a defensive end, or possibly a linebacker. Franklin is an unrated dual threat quarterback on ESPN, an unrated outside linebacker on Scout, a three-star defensive end on Rivals, and a three-star athlete on 247.

Brailyn Franklin (Haymarket, VA via Arlington, TX. 200lbs, 6'-3". Athlete/Defensive End)

Note that I'm still not a huge fan of putting kids that weigh somewhere around 200lbs at nose. I know WHY they try it- it's trying to get the more athletic kids on the less athletic ones, but if your interior line is anywhere close to good or of decent size it shuts that down HARD. At any rate, that's where he's lining up for his defensive snaps. He's kind of slippery and surprisingly powerful for his size and frame, at the very least. He's tenacious and keeps after the quarterback or running back, and does a good job of shedding blocks down or away. Like most defensive players in high school, he doesn't have a defined ‘move', but he does have the raw speed and athleticism that Foster likes in his smaller defensive ends. I'd like to think Franklin maxes out around 230-240, but that might be a stretch.  I like his tackling, but I'm more curious to see how his frame will turn out with more weight, muscle or otherwise. Either way, he's a very intriguing prospect for Foster's scheme. We'll see how the rest of his recruitment shakes out, but as of now, it's very possible that you'll see his name here again soon.