By Jim Johnson
SouthernPigskin.com

Follow us at Twitter.com/SouthernPigskin.  Become a fan at the SouthernPigskin.com Facebook Page

In a preseason column, I listed seven x98spoiler alerts for the 2016 ACC football season. One of my terrible predictions was that Mitch Trubisky would be another Jeremy Johnson.

In a preseason column, I listed seven x98spoiler alerts for the 2016 ACC football season. Some are looking pretty good right about now. Some have already come to fruition. And some are, frankly, embarrassing in hindsight. One of my terrible predictions was that Mitch Trubisky would be another Jeremy Johnson.

x9cAll I heard at ACC Media Days from his head coach and teammates, about the incumbent Tar Heel starting signal caller, was x98big arm this and x98arm talent that. Red flags everywhere. Arm talent might not be in the top ten most important things for a quarterback. Mitch Trubisky screams Jeremy Johnson 2.0.x9d

Sheesh. Come on, Johnson.

I stand by my original premise. So often we see unproven quarterbacks touted as the next big thing just because they can throw the ball through a car wash without it getting wet. There are numerous other qualities much more important to success at that position. The problem with my projection was that Mitch Trubisky has all those things on top of the arm talent.

Right now, multiple NFL Draft projection outlets have Trubisky rated as one of the top two quarterback prospects, possibly even a top five pick.

Only three quarterbacks in FBS football, that have at least 170 attempts, have a better touchdown to interception ratio than the Tar Heel field general. His 19 touchdowns to two interceptions are only bested by Jerod Evans, Zach Terrell, and Heisman hopeful Jake Browning.

His completion percentage, currently sitting above 70%, is fourth in the country, and two of the three guys ahead of him have attempted fewer passes.

The things that makes him so wildly tantalizing, though, to NFL scouts, is how little his already astronomically high level of accuracy drops when under pressure. Trubisky is second, nationally, with a 68.6% adjusted completion percentage when under duress.

If there are qualms with his film, its nothing within his control. His numbers are heavily saturated by an offense that relies on a lot of screen passes to a nice collection of considerably talented receivers. However, taking advantage of the talent around him, and thriving within his teams system is hardly something to hold against him.

Even with the reliance on shorter passes, he is obviously putting his weapons in a position to succeed, as indicated by his 8.5 yards per attempt — good for fourteenth across all eligible players.

His talent is manifesting itself in on-field results. UNC is 11th when it comes to yards per play, and averages an astounding 3.74 points per possession, adjusted for end-of-half clock kills and garbage time drives.

Those numbers in the box score are, in turn, resulting in numbers in the win column.

The Heels have dropped two games this season: the season opener against Georgia, Trubiskys debut as the full-time starter in what at the time was a high-profile, nationally relevant game, and his lone truly disappointing performance of the year in monsoon conditions versus Virginia Tech.

Weve known that Trubisky had the size and arm talent that scouts covet, but what Ive learned the hard way is that he has the accuracy and intangibles, too.

I am happy to concede that I was dead wrong about Mitch Trubisky.