Pressure is on for Trubisky at Combine

All eyes will be on Trubisky on March 3, the day for quarterbacks to show their stuff at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Auditions won’t get much bigger for Mitch Trubisky than this week in Indianapolis.

The No. 1-rated quarterback by many analysts can confirm that belief with a big performance at the Scouting Combine.

All eyes will be on Trubisky on March 4, the day for quarterbacks to show their stuff at Lucas Oil Stadium. The pressure to perform in what amounts to Olympic-style drills, plus throw well, is huge for the Mentor graduate and North Carolina quarterback.

That pressure is there because there are doubts about Trubisky, mostly because he was a starter just one season for the Tar Heels. His physical tools shouldn’t be the question. Trubisky’s arm strength and speed should be more than enough when it’s on display.

The only drill Trubisky won’t participate in at the Combine — reported first by The NewsHerald — is the bench press. Trubisky will also throw for NFL general managers and coaches.

As is the norm this time of the draft season, top draft prospects — especially QBs — are always scrutinized and picked apart.

In Trubisky’s case, there’s more than just his inexperience as a college starter. There are reports suggesting Trubisky is as much as two inches shorter than his listed college height of 6-foot-3.

His high school coach, Mentor’s Steve Trivisonno, said Trubisky was measured as a high school senior. Trivisonno said he expects Trubisky to measure at least 6-foot-2. Unless Trubisky has shrunk an inch since he was a high school senior, that issue should go away early this week, when the top draft prospects report to Indianapolis.

What Trubisky can control is how he carries himself in meetings with prospective teams, performs in speed and agility drills and throws the ball. The

public won’t be privy to the meetings, but they will be during all the drills.

How he performs at the Combine, and at his pro day March 21, could squash some of those doubts. First up is the Combine, where Trubisky can make a big first impression on the team that owns the No. 1 pick.

That team — Trubisky’s hometown Browns — has recently been the brunt of jokes lately from two key draft prospects.

First, it was Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett — the consensus No. 1 prospect — and more recently Clemson QB Deshaun Watson.

On Feb. 10, Garrett posted a video asking the Cowboys to make a trade with the Browns so they can draft him. Garrett later posted a second video that day saying how much he loved the Browns. Garrett is a Texas native so take that second video

for what it’s worth.

Last week, Watson basically said the same thing about a Cowboys draft trade while accepting the Davey O’Brien Award in Fort Worth, Texas.

Meanwhile, Trubisky has stayed low-key while training in Irvine, Calif., at the Rep 1 Sports headquarters.

His agent Bruce Tollner of Rep 1 Sports said Trubisky has been training with Rep 1 coach and former NFL QB Ryan Lindley on his 3-, 5- and 7-step dropbacks, plus taking snaps from under center.

“It’s all coming along,” said Tollner last month in a phone interview. “Mitch is working hard.”

According to Tollner, other areas of emphasis for Trubisky in preparations for the Combine include his 40-yard dash time, plus the shuttle and vertical jump.

“It’s a new challenge,

but I think he’ll be more than prepared for it,” said Tollner. “Mitch has all the makings of a franchise quarterback — his personality, his ability, his intangibles, his demeanor.”

As for the Browns’ interest in Trubisky, Tollner said he and the Browns have already had discussions, but nothing serious.

On Jan. 9, the day he declared for the draft, Trubisky addressed the possibility of the Browns drafting him, either at No. 1 overall or No. 12.

“If that’s what’s about to happen, I think it’s meant to be,” Trubisky told The News-Herald.

Tollner expects Trubisky will visit with the Browns in Berea in April.

That’s still a few months away. Up next in Indianapolis is the first big test for Trubisky.

Contact Podolski at MPodolski@News-Herald. com; On Twitter: @mpodo.