Before Mitch Trubisky was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft, the now Chicago Bear was biding his time in Chapel Hill before finally getting a chance to be starting quarterback at North Carolina for the 2016 season.

Keith Heckendorf, the Tar Heels’ quarterback coach, spent some time this week telling us about his experience with this year’s most highly drafted quarterback prospect.

JM: At what point did you realize that Mitch was special?

KH: To be honest with you, we realized he was pretty special right when he stepped on campus really as a high school senior because he was an early enrollee. He arrived here at Chapel Hill halfway through his senior year. It really struck me throughout that spring during the month of January while us coaches are out on the road recruiting, I would often walk back into the office and staff room at 8pm at night and he’d be sitting at the desk watching the install tapes and starting to learn the offense.

He was already busy getting himself ready to compete in spring practice even though we had a fifth year senior at the position coming back to school. Mitchell was always eager to dive right in and he wanted to start soaking up as much information as he could. We figured out right then and there that we had a guy that was pretty special and it didn’t take long for us to see on the practice field that he had some traits about him that made him different than most guys.

JM: Looking at this past season when he finally stepped into the starting role, he had a bit of a rough start in that first game against Georgia, but he obviously steadily improved as the year went on. Working so closely with him, how do you feel he grew throughout the season?

KH: I think that he grew tremendously. I think the biggest area where he grew was his presence in the pocket and his presence under pressure. When you look at that Georgia game, he’ll be the first one to tell you that there’s some throws he’d love to have back. He did some things in that game that he hadn’t done in three years of practice. As the season went, he just kept getting better and better. He kept getting more and more comfortable.

One of the clips I like to point out to people is that if you go back and watch our last regular season game against NC State, there was a play in there where it’s 3rd down and long and they bring a blitz that Mitchell knew we couldn’t pick up, he knows he’s gonna’ take a shot and he stands in there and delivers a strike on a deep out cut to Ryan Switzer for a first down; he took that shot right in the mouth. That to me was the biggest indicator of how far he had come, that presence in the pocket that he showed. Early on in that Georgia game, he had some happy feet and got flushed on a few things. Later on in the season, he stood in there and delivered strikes. That was encouraging to see and I’m very proud of the progress he made in that respect.

JM: Speaking of that progress, what aspects of his game do you think are currently most developed?

KH: I think the biggest strength that he has is his ability to throw the football with accuracy. That’s probably his No. 1 trait and I think it’s one of the reasons why NFL teams were so attracted to him. When you play quarterback, you have to be accurate. The difference from being a good player and being an elite player is being able to put that thing where you want it consistently, and he’s been able to do that very, very well throughout his time at UNC, and that shows up on tape throughout the course of this past season.

Also, his ability to process information and make good decisions. I think he does those things at a very high level and that to me would be the second thing. When you’re evaluating quarterbacks, you’re looking for what separates guys and those three things are probably at the top of your list; can he put the ball where he wants it consistently? Is he accurate? How well does he make decisions and how fast does he process information?

JM: Those are key traits for an NFL starting quarterback. On the other side of the coin, what areas does he have to improve on?

KH: Any time you come in and you’re learning a new language, that’s the biggest challenge in front of anyone making that transition from college to the pros. He’ll have to continue to learn how to manage the game, we call it situational football, and how those situations in a game dictate what you do with the football and what kind of chances you take or don’t take. To me, the more you play and the more experience you have, you start to understand the little nuances of playing the position; when I can check it down, when I can take a shot, when I have to plug the needle on a play and when I need to stay away from doing those things. The more experience you get in a new system, I think those are some areas that he’ll definitely grow into.

JM: What’s the one thing about his game or even his personality that you think will make him a successful pro?

KH: His story has been well documented here at North Carolina. He’s been asked a thousand times how come he didn’t start earlier. I think the trials and tribulations that he had to go through and how he persevered through not being the starter from the get go, in learning how to overcome that, in turn he learned how to be a great teammate. Through that process, I think he learned a lot about himself.

He learned how to work and how to have a goal in mind and how to go get it no matter what somebody else is saying about you. Everybody knows it’s a transition from college to the NF, but it’s never a smooth ride at the quarterback position. There are ups and downs for even the greatest ones who ever played the position. He developed an ability to stay level-minded through the ups and downs, and he learned how to remain consistent through that. That will be something that his experience in college will help him in his transition to the pros.

JM: I know he’s been asked a thousand times, and earlier you mentioned how impressive he was from the moment he arrived at Chapel Hill as a senior in high school. How is it that he ends up going No. 2 in the draft, but was unable to elevate into the starting lineup sooner?

KH: I think it’s a matter of circumstance and what was happening at UNC. He was more than capable from a talent perspective to be our starting quarterback. The guy in front of him was our number one player on offense for the two previous seasons and really provided a spark for our football team during that time. Going into his senior season, there was a sense of loyalty to Marquise (Williams). He had battled for us and he had earned it, and we decided to let him start his senior year.

As much as I think Mitchell wanted to play and thought he could help our football team, he didn’t want to play at the expense of our football team. He didn’t want our team to struggle in order for him to get his opportunity. I think that says a lot about Mitchell; he was the ultimate teammate. Every opportunity he had to go into the game and play and contribute to our team, he did so in a positive manner. How he carried himself and handled himself through all that, he built up a lot of respect for himself throughout our organization and on our team. There was a complete sense of confidence when Mitchell took over. This was his team and we knew we were in good hands.

JM: Speaking of his personality, putting the team first and waiting patiently for his moment, do you have any examples or anecdotes you can share regarding his leadership style?

KH: Here’s a good story that I’ve told people over the last couple of years. In Mitchell’s red-shirt freshman year, the 2015 season, we’re playing the University of Delaware and I think the score is something like 14-13, we’re down a point and we elect to put Mitch in the game. Mitch proceeds to go 17-20 in that game for 300+ yards and four touchdowns, and tears it up. In the course of the second half of that game, we had a third down and long situation come up and our defensive coaches are on the sideline already getting their guys ready to go back out and play.

It’s third down and long, we have to get ready to go back out there and our senior captain/starting middle linebacker looked at our defensive coach at the time and said, “Hey coach, we’re good. No. 10 is in the game.” Sure enough, we convert the first down and we rolled on [laughs]. That was the sense of confidence that our team had in Mitch and it started with what he did every day in practice and how he carried himself every day. All the guys around our program had a great sense of confidence in him. We knew he was going to go out there and do his job.

JM: How would you respond to his critics that say his lack of experience as a starter is a red flag?

KH: You control what you can control. Whether he had 13 starts or 30 starts, the same questions are gonna be there. How does he translate to the next level? How well is he going to adjust? The same questions are being asked about Deshaun Watson and (DeShone) Kizer from Notre Dame. Every quarterback that comes out, whether they’ve played one year or three years, the same questions always come up; can their game transition to the next level? Are they ready, are they prepared? It’s a number people use (13 career starts) because they have to find something negative to say about him [laughs]. Everything else checked out with him.

That’s what happens during this process. They build you up before you come out, then once you declare they try and find everything wrong with you. Once the draft was over, it’s interesting how many people have come out and supported Mitch regarding where they actually had him graded in the process. It’s a giant game of Texas Hold’em. Nobody wants to tip their hand before the draft. Everybody’s jockeying for position and trying to get a leg up on people.

JM: My favorite is when a guy declares who seems almost too perfect, and it becomes a red flag that he doesn’t have any red flags.

KH: They have to find something to talk about and something to critique. That’s part of the deal. When you play quarterback at an elite level, you go into it understanding that it has it’s pluses and it’s minuses. There are going to be people who are gonna pat you on the back and then there are people who are gonna tear you apart no matter what you do. You think of the elite guys throughout sports; I’ll use LeBron James as an example who’s arguably the greatest player playing any game currently and yet day in and day out, but people tear him apart on one particular performance. In reality, he’s the best one playing, but people try to find something, like he doesn’t do this or that.

For any of us to be put in that situation, there are gonna be pluses and there are gonna be minuses. There are people that no natter what you do, no matter what you say or how you say it, they’re gonna have a negative opinion just because of the position you’re in. You learn to control what you can control and focus what you can focus on. Continue to just keep getting better and in reality, that’s what Mitch did during his time at Chapel Hill. When things weren’t necessarily in his favor, he didn’t let it affect him as a player or as a person. He kept preparing and he kept getting better. I ultimately believe that he knew the day was coming when we were gonna call his name, and he wanted to be ready.

JM: What kind of pro projection do you see for him if he ultimately reaches his potential?

KH: I think he can be a great player. I really do. He’s got some of those traits and qualities that are hard to come by. He’s as accurate of a quarterback that I’ve ever been around. As he continues to mature his knowledge of the game and his ability to process information at an elite level and spending time in the system that he’s playing in, I think he can have a great NFL career. Obviously he has to stay healthy and things have to go in your favor in a lot of different ways. I think there’s a huge upside to him and I think the people of Chicago will be pleasantly surprised in the guy they got. They’ll be able to look back and they’ll be glad they made the move they made to get him.

JM: Speaking of Chicago, how do you think he’ll handle that situation? There’s a lot of factors at play; a potential quarterback competition with Mike Glennon, a big city that’s tired of losing, the media?

KH: He went into a situation at UNC where he was competing against a guy that was from the state of North Carolina and who had a lot of fans there because of what he did previously. Mitch just went about his business and went to work. It was interesting because him and Marquise during the process here, they had a fierce competitiveness between them and to be honest with you, early on, they probably didn’t like each other. But their relationship grew because they both realized that the competition between them made the both of them better players.

Having gone through that situation, it’ll be no different in Chicago. I think he’ll have a great relationship with everybody in the quarterback room, especially the ones he’s competing against because he ultimately knows that great competition makes everybody in the room better. Ultimately, he’ll be the first one to tell you that if the Bears are winning and they’re doing what they need to do, he’ll be 100% supportive of whatever they should decide.