Ohio: Mitch Trubisky
Mitch Trubisky waited his turn at North Carolina, and when it finally came, he was ready. Trubisky turned in a terrific redshirt junior season in 2016 that impressed NFL scouts so much he was drafted No. 2 overall by the Chicago Bears in 2017.
The Mentor, OH, native completed 304 of 447 pass attempts with 3,748 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2016. His passing yards and touchdowns that year are single-season UNC records. Trubisky also scored five rushing touchdowns that season.
He led Carolina on last-minute drives to win games in consecutive weeks to defeat Pittsburgh at home and Florida State on the road. His teammates said he threw lasers and his head coach simply said he could make every throw and then some.
“He’s just very heady,” Larry Fedora said in 2016. “He makes good decisions, he doesn’t get flustered and he really can do it all.”
Trubisky’s career numbers are 386-for-572 (67.5 percent) with 4,762 yards with 41 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He ran for eight scores, too.
He was third-team All-ACC in 2016, a finalist for the Davey O’Brien, Maxwell and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards and was, of course taken second overall in the NFL draft despite dealing with a nagging question about why he’d started just 13 games at UNC.
Trubisky played behind Marquise Williams in 2014 and 2015, and with the Tar Heels winning 11 games in 2015 and barely missing out on a spot in the College Football Playoff, Williams was the right choice. Some players said off the record the team responded better to Williams, which was never a criticism of Trubisky, but compliments to Williams.
So how did Trubisky handle those concerns?
“I just said I had a different journey,” he said a month prior to the 2017 draft. “Obviously, me and Marquise (Williams) competed here and I felt like I won the job and felt like I should have been quarterback, but coach Fedora, it was his decision and he did what he thought was best for the team.
“And even though I hated being a backup, as a competitor I embraced my role and I found ways to get better on my own and I continued to push my teammates – I was a great teammate to him and everyone else, and we won a lot of games with him.”
In two NFL seasons, Trubisky has started all 26 games he’s played for the Bears completing 485 of 764 pass attempts for 5,416 yards, 31 touchdowns and 19 interceptions and he’s also run the ball for 699 yards and five touchdowns.
The Bears reached the playoffs this past season, losing the first weekend even though Trubisky was 26-for-43 with 303 yards and a touchdown against no interceptions.
He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week once this past season and he played in the Pro Bowl.