North Carolina QB Mitch Trubisky heading to NFL
North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky isn’t coming back for his senior season with the Tar Heels.
Trubisky announced he was heading to the NFL in a letter in the Players Tribune. Trubisky is considered by many to be a first-round pick in the 2017 draft and could even be the first quarterback taken ahead of Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and others.
I want to say thank you to every single coach I’ve ever had, from my dad when I was just seven years old and I got excited every time I made the ball spiral, to Coach Fedora and his staff, who improved my skills and pushed me to a higher level as a player. My high school coaches played a huge role in my development as a quarterback. I’m lucky to have had them by my side, because they really set the groundwork for my confidence as a football player. It’s hard to get very far without the right mentors. To all of you: Thanks for being my guiding lights for so many years.
Trubisky’s draft status is so high despite spending just one season as UNC’s starting quarterback. He took over for departed starter Marquise Williams at the beginning of 2016 and was 304-447 passing for 3,748 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions.
His best stretch of the season came early when he had three-straight games of over 400 yards passing. The third game in the series was a 37-35 win over Florida State when Trubisky was 31-38 passing for 405 yards and three scores. It’s fair to wonder if he should come back to North Carolina for another season to improve some skills and potentially improve his draft stock. But that comes with downsides too.
Remember Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones? He could have declared following the Buckeyes’ 2014 season and a big three-game stretch to end the season. With Jones’ size and tools, he was a possible red-hot NFL prospect despite not playing until the Big Ten Championship Game. But Jones came back to school and then was in a quarterback rotation with J.T. Barrett in 2015. He was a mid-round pick in the 2016 NFL draft. Trubisky’s decision could actually be helped by having just a season of game tape.
Trubisky was projected to go to the Arizona Cardinals at the No. 13 pick in the draft in the latest Shutdown Corner mock draft by our Eric Edholm. Here’s what he had to say about Trubisky:
Don’t be 100 percent sold on Trubisky as a top-10 prospect, and he’s certainly risky projecting as a Day 1 starter in 2017. A year ago he couldn’t beat out Marquise Williams at UNC, and Williams was bested by Joe Callahan for a roster spot on the Green Bay Packers. Even with Trubisky’s big improvement in 2016, there are still holes in his game. He’s an ideal stash QB for a year if the talented Cardinals can squeeze one more year out of Carson Palmer. They’re not far cries from each other as quarterbacks.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
