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On Saturday, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that Virginia Tech felt "urgency" to finalize a deal for former Penn State head coach James Franklin. More News: Brian Kelly Made His Intentions Clear in Obtained LSU Firing Email Six games after Franklin led the Nittany Lions to an appearance in the College Football Playoff semifinal, PSU fired the 53-year-old head coach. VT was assumed to be trying to get Franklin to agree to a deal before jobs like Auburn and Florida State opened. However, Arkansas was already on Franklin's mind before Auburn fired Hugh Freeze on Sunday. More News: LSU Linked to Ultimate Anti-Brian Kelly Candidate Per Grant Hughes of 247 Sports, one of Franklin's requests from the Razorbacks is that the program spend $30 million on a roster. "I was told James Franklin wants to know he has at least $30 million to spend on a roster," said Trey Biddyof HawgSports. "Two sources tell me that the interest between Arkansas and Franklin is very much legit. There has been contact there. Arkansas is basically going to make Franklin tell them 'no.'" Amid Franklin's flirt with the SEC program, the former Vanderbilt head coach remains active in negotiations with Virginia Tech. He's been spotted around the Blacksburg region multiple times. "Negotiations with Franklin are still very active behind the scenes," said Kolby Crawford of VTScoop. "From everything I've gathered, it sounds like Virginia Tech has put a very generous and likely final offer on the table. They've met just about every demand and then some." It'll be interesting to see which school can provide Franklin with a more compelling offer. It's still possible another program could court Franklin while he remains a free agent. Given Franklin's resume, he has less reason to be in a hurry to sign a deal than Arkansas or Virginia Tech. Making sure that the program he lands with has money to fill out a roster improves the chances he will be successful at the new job. Franklin is 128-60 as a head coach at the college level. He led Penn State to a Big Ten championship in 2016.
