This is the first in our series of conversations with each Bears draft pick's college coaches. Mitch Trubisky became the Bears' franchise quarterback Thursday after the team traded three mid-round draft picks to select him second overall. General manager Ryan Pace stamped his belief on the 22-year-old, completing Trubisky's extraordinary rise from two-year backup. North Carolina quarterbacks coach Keith Heckendorf oversaw Trubisky's development as a backup and emergence last season as a top NFL prospect. Heckendorf recently spoke with the Tribune about what Trubisky will give the Bears in Pace's quest for greatness. Here's the full Q&A, edited for clarity. One thing that really stood out in Ryan Pace's description of Mitch was his accuracy. What is the root of his accuracy? Why is he such an accurate passer? To me, that's hard to teach. I think either you are or you're not. Obviously, there are some fundamental things you can correct as far as foot placement, body position and arm slot to try to create as consistent a release point as you possibly can. But as quarterbacks go, some guys can just put it where they want to put it all the time, and some guys can't. That's one of the things Mitch has really been blessed with. He's the most accurate quarterback I've ever been around. It's something that we've seen every day since he was a freshman. That was one of the things that stood out the moment he walked on campus and walked out for his first practice. "Man, this kid is pretty accurate." We'd go days in practice where he'd throw one incompletion or one ball where it was an overthrow or a missed throw. Everybody would be looking around going, "Dang, what's wrong with Mitch today?" And I'd be like, "Guys! That's one throw! Every other one has been right on the money all practice long!" But that's the environment, the atmosphere that Mitch created because of what he did on a consistent basis. It just became what people expected from him because they were so used to it. How did you see his accuracy shine in games? How did his accuracy change games for you? Throws that some guys look at as being covered, his ball placement allowed guys to be open. Things of that nature. When you can put it where you want it, the windows can be a lot smaller, and you can still get the ball in there. Guys that are inaccurate, that means (receivers) have to be wide open for them to complete passes. That ability to put it where you want it, to be able to control it, allows you to throw into tighter windows, into smaller spaces, and do it with the confidence and consistency you need to be an effective passer. That's one thing that Mitch does really well, one of his main talents. What do you sense in how he trusts his arm? And how does that trust show on the field? You see it more in the man-to-man coverage stuff where a guy is on (the receiver), a guy is running with him. Not only the trust in his velocity and arm talent as far as how fast he can get it there, but also the ability to control where he puts it. He'll throw guys open, as opposed to guys having to get open for him to make throws. That's a big difference. Rich Campbell and Dan Wiederer break down Bears GM Ryan Pace's bet on quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Rich Campbell and Dan Wiederer break down Bears GM Ryan Pace's bet on quarterback Mitch Trubisky. That's such a big deal at the NFL level too. People ask all the time: What are some things that translate in his game? Why is he so highly rated in the eyes of the NFL scouts and evaluators? To me, it's two things that stick out. One, his accuracy and ability to throw the football consistently. Two, how fast he's able to process information. To me, those two things will serve him well as he makes his transition. How did that ability to process information translate to the field for you guys? That's another thing the Bears say they love about him. It started with: How important is it to you? In order to process it faster, you've got to study it. You've got to look at it. You've got to be watching tape. You've got to be studying the game. You've got to know what you're looking for. I'll never forget: As a freshman, you'd find him sitting up there in the offensive staff room in the evenings when nobody else was around, and he'd be sitting there listening to the voice-overs and the teaching tapes and studying the offense. And ultimately over the course of his four years in Chapel Hill, you saw that progression continue to grow. He got to the point where he didn't just know what to do, but he learned why I'm doing what I'm doing. "Against this defense, I want to go here. Against that defense I want to go there." And then the other part that goes along with that is the ability to recognize defensive coverages. And, to me, he spent a great deal of time training his eyes to do that, not only pre-snap but post-snap. That allows him to play faster than everybody else and make decisions faster. For quarterbacks, it's all about what you see and being able to decipher what you see, and then process how you want to attack it. That's something he did really well. Pre-snap IDs, post-snap verification of what it is (the defense is) giving him. And then, OK, "What's my answer based on the concept that we have called?" To this exact point, we've heard him talk a couple times about the Sun Bowl (against Stanford) and some throws he'd like to have back from that game. As you reviewed those, what room for growth did you see in terms of reading some of the things NFL defenses are going to try to do to him before the snap and during the down? There will always be room for growth. You think about the greatest players to play this game at the quarterback position. They're still constantly studying, constantly mastering their craft. They're never done. Peyton Manning is a great example of a guy who was a tireless worker, meticulous in the details. You're always looking to learn a little bit more. To see it a split-second quicker. To ID it a half-count faster. I don't think (Mitch) will ever stop pushing the envelope in terms of that. That's one of the reasons why he had the success he had at Carolina.

Everybody points to him being a one-year starter. The reality of it is he prepared as though he was going to be the starter from the get-go. He prepared with the mindset of not just working to try to get better today to be the starting quarterback at the University of North Carolina. I really think he, in his mind, was always preparing for what took place last Thursday night. I think that's what motivated him, and I think you'll continue to see a guy with that mindset moving forward. He's not just going to prepare to try to win the starting quarterback job for the Bears. He's going to try to be the best quarterback that they've had. The best that he can possibly be. We talk about the pursuit of excellence and trying to chase greatness. That's something that when you look at Mitch and how he prepared for us, doing what we asked him to do, he did that day in and day out. Ultimately it has put him in the position he's in. If he continues to keep doing that, he'll have a phenomenal NFL career. The Bears selected quarterback Mitch Trubisky with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NFL draft. Here's a look back at other No. 2s from Chicago's sports teams. (Not pictured: 3B Terry Hughes, the Cubs' No. 2 pick in 1967; F Andy Culligan, the Blackhawks' No. 2 pick in the 1965 amateur draft.) Considering his ability to process what he sees in addition to his preparation, how did that affect how he anticipates receivers getting open, windows coming open? That's all of it. It's a key ingredient to it. The first thing he's got to do is have a pre-snap picture of what the defense is. A pre-snap ID. That gives you an initial thought of, "OK, here's what I think I'm getting. Based on that, with the play we've got called, here's where I want to go." Then you've got to go confirm that post-snap because what they do pre-snap is not always how they're going to finish post-snap. Teams are going to try to disguise. They're going to show you one thing and try to do another. His ability to process that through his first step (of his drop), to ID then post-snap what that defense is actually doing, that allowed him to play faster. He didn't have to wait until his third and fourth step in his drop to figure out what they were doing defensively. He was able to do that through his first step. That allowed him to be a step ahead of the defense in most scenarios. Ryan Pace was talking to us the other night about Mitch's ability to make what he called "funny body throws." Basically off-script plays once the pocket breaks down, even when he has to contort his body. What did you see from him in that regard? He's got a lot more athleticism than people give him credit for at times. That athleticism allows him to extend plays. But he's a thrower first. He always has been. His athleticism allowed him to extend plays, but he was always looking to throw off that extension. That also creates issues for the defense because on scrambles guys have to make a decision. "Do I stay in coverage? Because I know this guy's not going to (always) run it. Or do I need to pursue him because he's now a run threat to me?" And the longer he can maintain that throwing position with the threat of being able to run, it gives him the advantage. It puts those defensive guys in a bind. But one of the things about Mitch — when you think about the accuracy and arm talent — he was able to have that great ball control and ball placement from not only being set in the pocket in the perfect position, but also throwing on the move. Throwing on the run, he's really accurate and consistent. Those two things continue to carry over to different parts of his game. He's not a guy that only when his feet are set, only when the pocket is perfect, can he make great throws. He's been able to do it with people in his face, with people around his feet or on the move. He's been able to do it when he's got to get a ball up and over a guy or underneath a guy. It's a little bit like a golfer. Playing quarterback is a lot like playing golf. If all you can do is hit the driver, you're limited. But the great golfers and the great quarterbacks can hit the bump-and-run shot. They can chip it. They can loft it. They've got a little creativity to their game. And I think quarterbacks are the same way. The guys that have the ability to maneuver the ball in ways dictated by the situation allow them to complete passes and have a chance to be really successful. Photos of the Bears general manager Ryan Pace. We always hear from coaches how important it is for a quarterback to keep his eyes downfield against the pass rush or blitz, sometimes understanding they're going to take a hit but staying committed downfield. What did you see from Mitch in that regard? If you went back and look at our first game (in 2016) against the University of Georgia when he made his first start, he had happy feet at times. In some situations he let his eyes drop a little bit. And that's something he really worked on through the course of the season. If you pull up the N.C. State game, the last home game of the season, it's third down. They throw him a blitz that he knows we cannot block. We're going to be one (blocker) short. And he stands in the pocket and delivers a deep out-cut to the field on third down to (move) the chains. And he takes a shot right in the mouth. That told me, you know what? He has come a long way in that department. He gets it. Because that's not easy to do. That's not easy for a guy to stand in there knowing you're going to take a shot, keep your eyes downfield and deliver a strike. And he put it on the money. To his credit, that was a lot of hard work and a lot of discipline throughout the course of the season, getting more and more comfortable. Every week he played, you saw it in the game film. You could see him more and more comfortable in the pocket keeping his eyes downfield, hanging in there longer, working through his progressions. It was fun to see. When you look at that (throw in the N.C. State game), it's a direct correlation to who Mitch is. Mitch is a guy who, OK, you ID what his weakness is. He's going to work to fix it. He looked at plays in that first game and said, "I can get so much better." He looked at plays in that second game and said, "I can get so much better." Each week he took that same approach. As a coach being able to coach him, I knew I could walk into the film room every Sunday and pick his game apart. Even on plays that to the average fan it looks like he did everything right — he throws a touchdown — some guys when you coach them want you to tell them they did a great job. He welcomed the criticism. He welcomed the, "OK, what can I do to make it even better?" It was a lot of fun coaching him because of how he would take coaching. He welcomed the criticism. He didn't shy away from it. He embraced it. He'd go out in the next week and say, "Let's work on this. Let's work on that. Let's get that better."

What responsibilities did Mitch have at the line of scrimmage in terms of checking out of plays, moving guys around, anything to get the offense in a better spot? A couple different things. One, a lot of our plays in our run game, he had decisions to make. A lot of our run game was always tagged with some kind of perimeter screen or some kind of "RPO," your run-pass options. We didn't hardly have any plays in our offense where he was just going to turn around hand the ball off and go to the next play and be done with it. He was making decisions on every play. Do I hand it? Do I throw it? Or do I keep it? Sometimes it's was a three-pronged check; all three options were available to him. On run plays, he was making a lot of decisions pre-snap. When you look in terms of the passing game, he had to be alert for certain looks in protection that he knew we could block and we couldn't block. And then he had to have an answer for that, whether it was a hand signal or a designated hot route for where he was going to go in those situations. We didn't necessarily change plays in terms of full field, completely different play for everybody. But he had the ability to hand signal. He had the ability versus certain looks that he would see throughout the week, "Hey, I want to get to this route." And he could hand signal. And we hadn't really done that a lot with our previous quarterbacks. That's something that through practice and seeing it day in and day out, he grew into that ability to have that responsibility. As the season went, we gave him more and more of it. If you look at the Florida State game (a 37-35 North Carolina road win), Florida State brings an all-out Cover-0 blitz in the red zone. I want to say it was the third quarter of that game. He gives a hand signal to our single receiver and throws an out cut to the field, and the guy catches it for a touchdown. That was just one of the many examples of him, based on coverage, getting us in the right route that we needed to beat that particular blitz or look. BRADLEY LEEB / AP North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky throws a pass during the first quarter against Illinois in Champaign on Sept. 10, 2016. North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky throws a pass during the first quarter against Illinois in Champaign on Sept. 10, 2016. (BRADLEY LEEB / AP) (BRADLEY LEEB / AP) What did Mitch do in terms of calling plays on the field? Obviously, the Bears are in a huddle a lot more than a lot of college teams are. The only difference in terms of communication is he didn't have to call out the formation. But he had to communicate everything to the O-line. He had to communicate tempo, protection, run scheme. The skill positions, he didn't have to communicate too verbally. That was all done through signals. But for him, every time he went to the line of scrimmage, he had to make sure he was communicating to the O-line. In a hostile, loud environments, he had to get up and talk to his A-gaps and make sure everybody was on the same page. So there was a lot of communication that took place on every play. It just wasn't in the huddle. In the huddle you call tempo, formation and play. For us, we signaled the tempo and formation so he didn't have to say that to the O-line. They didn't care about the formation. But he had to communicate tempo and play to those guys. So there was still a lot of communication that would take place on any given play. When you think about his transition to having to play from under center, what do you expect from him at the next level? I don't think it'll be an issue at all. In some ways I think it will help. I played quarterback (at St. Cloud State in Minnesota) and when I played (2000-03), we were almost always under center. I was actually less comfortable in the gun at times because I had to take my eyes off the defense to look at the ball to catch it. In some ways, being under center, you get your hands on the ball right now. As a quarterback, your eyes never have to leave what's happening downfield, not even for that split-second to catch it. So I don't see that being an issue. I see NFL teams all the time where the majority of the game they're lining up in the gun. I can't speak specifically about the Bears. I can't tell you I've studied them a whole lot. I imagine there's going to be a transition to being under center, but I think it will be a very minimal one. We have packages within our scheme, situationally, where he's taking snaps from under center. Most of your traditional drop-back passing game for us was in the gun. Were you involved in the workout Mitch went through for the Bears in mid-March around the time of UNC's pro day? No, not one bit. I mean, I'll tell you this: All those workouts are routes on air. When you're a really accurate quarterback and throwing is the thing you do best, you should look great in every one of those. I think the Bears fell in love with the guy the more they talked to him. They put him on the board and they talked ball with him. One of the things we did with him here is in the month of January when our coaches are all on the road recruiting, I had him run quarterback meetings. I had him get up and teach the younger quarterbacks in the room the offense. It's one thing to know the offense in order to play it. It's another that you know it so well that you can teach it and explain it. We did that with him for the month of January where he ran the quarterback room. He got up and taught it. That was just another step in the progression for him of, "I've got to know it so well that I can articulate it in a manner that's understandable, and there's a progression in my explanation of how I get from A to B." I think that was good for him. As a coach, you always try to find ways to push the envelope so they continue to grow and progress, and that was one of the things with him that we felt was the next step. "Mitch, I know you know what this concept is. I know you know how to do it. But can you articulate it enough to teach it to me as if I didn't know one thing about this offense and I walked in fresh off the street? Can you teach it to me so when I walk out of here I know the play too?" Get to know the Bears' five selections from the 2017 NFL draft. Mitch said at the combine he learned how to get better even when he wasn't playing behind Marquise Williams (in 2014 and 2015). How did you see him do that? Well, like we talked about earlier, I don't think he was preparing every day just to be the backup quarterback or just to win the starting job. I truly believe he had last Thursday night on his mind all the way through. He was working to be the best player that Mitch Trubisky could be. Not necessarily the best quarterback on our roster or just good enough to be the starter.