Zaire Franklin doesn’t hide his Philadelphia roots.

He frequently wears a fitted Phillies hat, tries to catch every Eagles game and rattles off North Philadelphia cross streets like he’s reciting the alphabet.

But when the Eagles played the Colts on Sunday Night Football on Sept. 15, Franklin wasn’t watching. He was trying to get his homework done so he could get enough sleep for a 6 a.m. linebackers meeting.

“I saw the Eagles won,” SU linebackers coach Clark Lea said to him, while smiling, on Monday morning.

“I was happy he knew they played and that I had to miss it,” Franklin said. “Because when you’re in the mix, it’s not like being a normal freshman. You don’t get to ease in, you just have to go fast and learn as you do it.”

In a lot of ways, the freshman linebacker hasn’t had a chance to mature as a college athlete. But that didn’t stop Franklin from giving Syracuse (3-6, 1-4 Atlantic Coast) a look into the future in its 24-17 loss to N.C. State (5-4, 1-4) on Saturday. Rotating with sophomore Marqez Hodge at middle linebacker for crucial chunks of time, Franklin recorded eight total tackles — the second most on the team — a tackle for loss and forced a fumble that was recovered by the Wolfpack.

And with Syracuse needing to win its last three games for bowl eligibility, Franklin showed he’s capable of filling the holes the Orange will have in the middle of its defense going into next year.

That’s when starting outside linebackers Cameron Lynch and Dyshawn Davis — as well as Josh Kirkland and the injured Luke Arciniega — will run out of eligibility, leaving Franklin as one of the top young options for an evolving linebacking corps.

“We talk about it all the time, Parris (Bennett), me and the rest of the guys,” Franklin said of the spots that will be open next year. “You look around the linebackers room and you see four people leaving and you know it’s your time to step it up.”

When Franklin took his official visit last January, Syracuse was coming off a Texas Bowl victory and Lynch was his host.

The two were riding the South Campus bus and Franklin was scrolling through Twitter on his phone. He saw that Lynch — who currently leads Syracuse with 73 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks — had made the All-ACC bowl team and excitedly asked Lynch about it.

“He didn’t even know,” Franklin said. “I was all excited to tell him and he didn’t have a clue it even happened. So from there on I was thinking I’m just going to follow Cam and if Cam does it, I’m going to do it.”

It’s Franklin’s soak-it-all-up mindset that Lea, Lynch and graduate assistant and former SU linebacker Siriki Diabate all praised him for.

From the start of training camp, Lea had Franklin learn the inside and outside linebacker spots in the Orange’s base 4-3 set and said that he came in asking questions and wanting to do extra film sessions whenever he could. Franklin’s currently settled in at middle linebacker while playing a lot on special teams, but said he won’t be confined to one spot moving forward.

Lea, who chuckles but expresses confidence when thinking about the makeup of his unit next season, transitioned Hodge into the center of the defense this season and said that Franklin has the ability to put himself on a similar track.

“He’s got a natural knack for the game and the next thing for him is just demanding the attention of his teammates,” Lea said. “No matter if you’re playing the middle or not, you have to be able to talk and that will come with time. He still has some time.”

Diabate playfully says that he sings too much Drake and needs to cool it with the love songs. After a Tuesday practice two weeks ago, Franklin pulled Lea aside and asked his coach how to deal with being away from family for so long. He likes Syracuse, but says he never wants to go this long without a Wawa hoagie ever again.

There’s still a freshman side to Franklin.

But after getting his first career sack against Wake Forest and finding himself on the field in crunch time at Clemson a week later, Franklin showed he can handle the fast track with his breakout performance against N.C. State.

“I was so proud of him,” Lynch said of Franklin’s game on Saturday. “ … He’s a sharp young man and I’m looking forward to seeing what he’ll do with this program.”

Published on November 3, 2014 at 12:10 am

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