New Virginia Tech coach James Franklin was left furious with referees after one of his players was given a penalty he called ‘un-American’.Running back Marcellous Hawkins Jr. rushed for three touchdowns as the Hokies claimed a 73-3 victory over VMI in Franklin’s first game in charge.But, as Hawkins Jr. ran off to celebrate his third touchdown of the game, he sprinted to a group of military cadets sat behind the end zone and gave them all high fives.Bizarrely, that act was deemed to be unsportsmanlike conduct by the group of officials and Hawking Jr. received a flag.’We got a penalty for high-fiving one of our members of the core,’ Franklin said after the gane.’Not a huge fan. I don’t know why we can’t high-five somebody in the military. It seems somewhat un-American to me.’ James Franklin was left furious with referees after one of his Virginia Tech players was given an ‘un-American’ penalty Running back Marcellous Hawkins Jr. high-fived military cadets after scoring a touchdown It was one of three touchdowns for Hawking Jr. as the Hokies dominated VMI on SaturdayAccording to NCAA Rule 9-2, players are banned from any ‘delayed, excessive, prolonged or choreographed act by which a player (or players) attempts to focus attention upon himself (or themselves).’Players must also immediately return the football to an official after scoring. Hawkins held onto it while celebrating.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 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 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. We executed in all three phases. We did it for four quarters.’Hired to rebuild a once-proud Virginia Tech program that has suffered losing seasons in five of the past six years, Franklin brought in 27 transfers, including 12 who followed him from his previous stop. Arguably the most important of those, quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, enjoyed a great Virginia Tech debut.Grunkemeyer, who started the final seven games for Penn State last season, completed 10 of his first 11 passes. He finished 17 of 20 for 224 yards and two touchdowns.