University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Trubisky Time
March 7, 2016 | Football, Featured Writers
By Lee Pace, GoHeels.com
Carolina Coach Larry Fedora was posed a question Thursday at the Raleigh Sports Club that assumed Mitch Trubisky would be the starting quarterback for the 2016 Tar Heels. “I don't know who told you Mitch is our starter,” Fedora answered. “He may be. He has to earn it.”
Told of the exchange less than an hour later, Trubisky smiled and shrugged.
“That's Coach, he'll keep you grounded all the time,” Trubisky said. “That's how he operates. I know that. For him saying that just gives me a heads up that I need to come in to work during spring ball and show him I am the guy, let him and the coaches make the decision after that. I know what I have to do this spring.”
Toward that end, Trubisky took the field Sunday with his Tar Heel teammates for the first day of spring practice. It was a sunny but chilly day and at least there was no snow on the perimeter of the Navy Field practice complex like there was 52 weeks ago. Absent were a half dozen Tar Heels whose eligibility expired but ready to get even better is a nucleus of juniors and sophomores from last year's 11-3 team that won the ACC Coastal Division title. The Tar Heels will practice again Tuesday and Thursday and then break for campus-wide spring break.
“I'm definitely excited,” says Trubisky, a rising junior. “We have so much talent coming back, the sky's the limit for this team. We want to build off last year. We'll look at what went well, look at the mistakes we made, try to make this season even better. That's the goal—to go places we haven't been before, to do something special.”
Trubisky signed with the Tar Heels in February 2013, was redshirted as a freshman and then backed up starter Marquise Williams for two seasons. He played early in 2014 when the coaching staff gave him designated possessions during a planned rotation with Williams. He played mop-up duty late in games already decided. If Williams was struggling as he was against Delaware last September, Trubisky was there with quality play.
And most noteworthy, if Williams' helmet popped off during a play from scrimmage and he had to come to the sidelines for one snap, Trubisky was ready: 16-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Thorpe at Virginia in 2014 for the game-winning score; five-yard scoring pass to Quinshad Davis at N.C. State last year while running for his life from the Wolfpack pass rush; and 16-yard third-down strike to Mack Hollins against Clemson on a third-and-long play in the ACC Championship Game.
“I just go out there and play, I'm not thinking about the situation,” Trubisky says. “That helps me. I just throw my helmet on, pick up the down and distance and take care of the ball. It all happens so fast, you just get thrown out there. You go out there and your natural instincts take over. That's when you do your best, you just go out and play the game.”
The two scoring plays developed in contrasting style and underline Trubisky's varied strengths. The play at Virginia happened just as you draw it up; the quarterback read the coverage, eyed his progression right, then left, and made a pin-point throw to Thorpe over the middle. The one in Raleigh just last November was different altogether. The noise was a factor and center Lucas Crowley thought he heard Trubisky call for the ball, so he snapped it when Trubisky was still trying to make the protection call. The Heels were not set up to properly block State's pressure, so Trubisky sprinted away from end Mike Rose and threw on a sprint, finding Davis in the corner of the end zone.
“Mitch's calmness is one of his strengths,” says QBs coach Keith Heckendorf. “He's been very poised in a couple of tough situations the last two years. You don't see any change in him from practice to a game. No stage is too big for him, he doesn't get rattled. Mitch is blessed with poise and composure.”
Not to mention a lot of physical skills as well. He hit 85 percent of his passes in 2015 and threw no interceptions. He hits his guys on time. He has such a command of the offense that he ran January quarterback meetings when Heckendorf was on the road recruiting. And he's got good speed for a quarterback.
Asked how he'd handicap his own attributes, Trubisky answers: “My knowledge of the game, my anticipation, my quick release and accuracy. A lot of people underestimate my running ability because I'm really not known for that. But I can definitely run the ball, and I think we'll do that as well. I'm able to go through progressions and find the open receiver, find the check-down, get to the open guy. That is what it's all about. I hope that's what I can show people I can do.”
Trubisky taking over with the starting unit isn't the only issue at quarterback this spring. Heckendorf is anxious to see who among the rest of the group will emerge to press Trubisky and become the No. 2 guy. Sophomore Caleb Henderson, red-shirt freshman Nathan Elliott, freshman Logan Byrd and walk-on Manny Miles were practicing Sunday. In August they'll be joined by Chazz Surratt.
“Competition is one of the reasons Quise became as good a quarterback as he did,” says Heckendorf. “He got pushed. Mitch pushed him to the brink. We need that same kind of competition this spring.”
Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace has covered Tar Heel football for 25 years through “Extra Points” and a dozen as the Tar Heel Sports Network's sideline reporter. His stories appear throughout the year on GoHeels.com. Follow him at @LeePaceTweet.
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