James Franklin won his debut as Virginia Tech head coach in convincing fashion on Saturday, but he had a fairly unusual complaint about a flag his team drew during the second half.
Hokies running back Marcellous Hawkins received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he high-fived several Virginia Tech cadets during Virginia Tech’s 73-3 victory. Hawkins had just scored his third touchdown of the day when he went for the celebratory high-fives, as seen in the ensuing video at roughly the 1:40 mark.
Three trips to the end zone 💥@MarcellousHawk8 punched in three touchdowns on 12 carries for 69 yards as Virginia Tech rolled past VMI in its season opener.@HokiesFB | @HokieSports | #GoHokies | @DrPepper pic.twitter.com/2M9pbh0bTE
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) September 6, 2026
Franklin said after the game that he found it “un-American” to penalize a player for high-fiving service members.
“We got a penalty for high-fiving one of our members of the corps. I’m not a huge fan,” Franklin said. “I don’t know why we can’t high-five somebody in the military. It seems somewhat un-American to me.”
It is an odd way for Franklin to make the point, but he has a point all the same. Hawkins did not look like he had any plans to greet the cadets until they started interacting with him, and they seemed to enjoy it as much as he did.
One can understand why officials would want to discourage players from interacting with fans as much as possible, though this seemed to be a bit much. Perhaps they are just preparing Hawkins for the NFL in light of some of the ridiculous penalties that get called there.
