Hawkins, Overton carry Virginia Tech over VMI 73-3 in Franklin debut

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- , Marcellous Hawkins Jr . rushed for three touchdowns, and Jeffrey Overton Jr . rushed for 108 yards and two scores to lead Virginia Tech to a 73-3 victory over VMI on Saturday in the debut of Hokies’ head coach James Franklin. Franklin, who was fired last October by Penn State after 12 seasons and hired by Virginia Tech 36 days later, witnessed a dominating performance by the Hokies (1-0) in their opener. Virginia Tech’s offense scored on its first six possessions and punted just once during the game. The Hokies’ defense held VMI (0-2) to just 83 yards, and the special teams blocked two punts, recovering one for a touchdown. “There’s a ton of teams across the country that play opponents that people may say, ‘You’re supposed to do this,’ or ‘You’re supposed to do that,’ and they don’t,” Franklin said. “At the end of the day, we did what we were supposed to do.