INDIANAPOLIS: Anyone who plays quarterback for the Browns fights an uphill battle under a microscope, and Mitchell Trubisky understands the Herculean task better than any other prospect at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The franchise always looking for a quarterback has started 26 of them since 1999, and now Trubisky is among the top candidates to join the long list.
But how would the Mentor native handle the pressure of returning to Northeast Ohio labeled the savior of the team he fell in love with as a boy?
Even Browns coach Hue Jackson acknowledged it’s a question worth asking.
“There’s going to be pressure pretty much everywhere you go,” Trubisky said Friday during the combine at the Indiana Convention Center. “There’s exterior pressure, but there’s not more pressure than the one I put on myself. Nobody can put more pressure on me than myself, and I expect more out of myself than anybody else. So that’s kind of how I go about my business.
“I have a lot of pride of where I’m from, that being my hometown, but no matter what team selects me, I’m going to be super excited. I’m going to work as hard as possible wherever I go. It’s been a dream of mine to play in the NFL since I was a little kid.”
Trubisky has had chances to look Jackson in the eye and tell him he can handle the hometown pressure the way LeBron James has. The redshirt junior from the University of North Carolina said he had a formal, 15-minute interview at the combine scheduled for Friday night with the Browns, who have the first and 12th overall picks in April’s draft and could use either choice to draft him. He also met with them informally.
His main hopes is to convince the Browns and other teams that he’s capable of carrying them.
“I’m confident in who I am, and I’m confident that I can be a franchise quarterback at the next level,” Trubisky said. “So I’m just trying to portray that to them and be myself.”
“I feel like I can be that [face of the franchise]. I’m going to carry myself the right way, on and off the field, and I’m just going to go in there and try to earn the respect of everyone.”
Trubisky conceded his lack of starting experience is a popular topic among teams. He sat behind Marquise Williams during his first two seasons and didn’t become a starter until last season, when he started all 13 games, went 8-5 and completed 68 percent of his passes for 3,748 yards and 30 touchdowns with six interceptions.
“I think I definitely have enough experience,” said Trubisky, who wants to be referred to as Mitchell, not Mitch, his camp told ESPN. “I only have 13 starts, but I played in 30 games. I’ve come in off the bench and I’ve seen significant time. I was prepared really well at North Carolina by Coach [Keith] Heckendorf, a really good quarterbacks coach, and I’ve studied the game.
“[Being on the bench] taught me a lot of different things just about life and adversity in general. I mean not everything is going to go your way, especially when you deserve something. So being on the bench taught me how to be a better teammate. I found other ways to get better.”
Studying more game film than anyone else at UNC was the primary method, Trubisky said.
But nothing beats playing on game day, and NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock can’t get past the fact that Trubisky hasn’t done it much. Mayock explained he likes Trubisky’s quick release, arm strength and footwork, yet his lack of seasoning shows.
“How many two-minute situations was he in?” Mayock said during a recent conference call. “How many four-minute situations where he knew he had to bleed the clock and had to make calls at the line of scrimmage and move pass protections and get the ball out?
“I look at the bowl game, and it’s the perfect example, a microcosm of what I’m talking about. He made two or three throws in the last two minutes of that bowl game against Stanford that were big-time NFL throws under pressure. Love them. However, in the same half, in the second half of that game, he threw a pick-six that was an awful read and an awful throw. And I just don’t think he’s ready yet.”
Trubisky begs to differ, insisting he believes he’s ready to start immediately in the NFL.
If he’s right, it wouldn’t be the first time he proved Mayock wrong.
Mayock said scouts told him Trubisky would measure a little over 6-foot-1 at the combine. On Thursday, he actually measured 6-2⅛ to the delight of Jackson, who said 6-2 is his threshold for ideal QB height. San Francisco 49ers General Manager John Lynch said Trubisky “made himself some money” with the extra inch.
“I know how tall I am,” Trubisky said. “I knew I was going to measure that tall. I could’ve came out earlier and told everyone I was going to measure that, but I just let it come out on measurement day.”
Quarterbacks will throw and participate in other on-field workouts Saturday. Trubisky views it as an opportunity to compete against the other top-rated quarterbacks — Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer and Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes.
“I would like to be the first quarterback to [be drafted],” Trubisky said. “I think that’s everyone’s goal and dream.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.