PINEHURST, N.C. — Zaire Franklin sat with his hands behind his head, motionless and wordless, looking at a room full of commotion.

Reporters from every walk of life in the Atlantic Coast Conference fought for seats to ask players questions. They interrupted each other and pushed past one another just to get their recorder in.

Each player was brought around like a show pony during ACC Media Day on Monday at Pinehurst Resort. They got pulled in different directions and to different people. From 8:15 to 3:30 there was hardly a break.

But for the Syracuse players, there wasn’t the same pull. Expectations for SU’s success are largely internal. Following a 3-9 season, featuring a roster full of mostly unproven players, confidence proved to be the buffer against negativity.

“If you don’t believe you’re the best in the ACC, why are you playing,” Franklin said. “I believe I’m one of the better linebackers in the ACC, Terrel feels like he’s the best quarterback. Y’all should feel like you’re the best writers in the ACC. If you don’t feel like you’re the best, you should at least work toward it. That’s how you should feel.”

Franklin and Hunt were honest on Monday — Franklin about the youth of a defense that will rely on an experienced few and Hunt about the struggle of watching more than half a season instead of playing in it.

Franklin was asked of head coach Scott Shafer’s old mantra of locking opponents in the Carrier Dome and throwing away the key, before being reminded that the team finished 1-5 on its home turf.

“We definitely want to play better in the Dome,” he said. “The Dome is our home. Maybe that could be our new mantra.”

Hunt was asked how the players reacted to finishing the season on such a negative note.

“Last year is last year,” Hunt said. “I’m not thinking about it. They aren’t. We know what happened. We know we went 3-9.”

On a day when most questions were either reflective or forward looking, Hunt and Franklin heard them all. And then they heard them again.

But the pair absorbed every one and answered with quick and shameless confidence, acknowledging the problem, but insisting it’s in the past.

They still had five minutes to kill at the podium in between the media’s last question and their required time slot. They spent it joking about getting their names in video games and the second season of Game of Thrones.

A swarm of reporters from Florida State stood patiently waiting for the Syracuse players to get up and go. It was clear SU wasn’t the table everyone wanted to be at, but in Hunt and Franklin’s mind, it didn’t really need to be.

“I really don’t care what anybody says,” Hunt said. “Media can write what they write. Fans can say what they say. But my team believes in me. And I believe in them. It really doesn’t matter what’s being said.”

Published on July 20, 2015 at 5:10 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3