CHAPEL HILL — Within the past 48 hours, Mitch Trubisky has been named as one of five finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the best quarterback in college football and a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award as the nation’s top player regardless of position. His draft stock continues to soar should he decide to leave after this, his junior season. It’s the kind of attention that could easily go straight to a young man’s head, especially one in his first year as a starter. And yet, even with all that ammunition for distraction, North Carolina coach Larry Fedora isn’t concerned about his strong-armed quarterback getting caught up reading his own press clippings. “I’m going to expect a kid to be mature enough to handle it, just like he was when after the Georgia game when nobody said he could play,” Fedora said of the Tar Heels’ season-opening 33-24 loss to the Bulldogs. “He didn’t pay attention to it then, you don’t pay attention now. “It’s so important as a player (not to) start paying attention to all those things outside when you forget about what’s getting you there each and every week. That’s really the only place your focus needs to be, how you prepare each and every week and how you play on Saturday.” To this point, Trubisky has remained just as poised in his mental approach as he has in the pocket for the Tar Heels. He shook off that disappointing performance in the opener against Georgia to lead his team to four straight victories, including two remarkable last-minute comebacks to beat ACC rivals Pittsburgh and Florida State. Then after a frustrating loss to Virginia Tech in which he was picked off for the only two times all year and his ability to throw the ball was severely hampered by Hurricane Matthew, the 6-foot-2, 225-pound junior picked up right where he left off to keep UNC in contention in the ACC’s Coastal Division. For the season, Trubisky ranks third nationally with a 71.2 completion percentage while setting school records for most consecutive completions (30) and most consecutive passes without an interception 243). He has hit on 203 of 285 passes for 2,378 yards and 18 touchdowns. He insists, however, that neither those numbers or the individual recognition he’s been getting are important to him. He said the only on which he’s focusing right now is Saturday’s Coastal Division showdown against Georgia Tech. “We’re just trying to enjoy every game we get to play,” Trubisky said. “And control what we can control.” It’s an attitude that comes directly from his coach, who said that there’s a time and place for thinking about individual awards and declaring early for the NFL draft — but not until the final game has been played and the season is over. “I really don’t pay a lot of attention to all of that,” Fedora said. “All that matters is we’re in a position going into the month of November of reaching our goals. There’s a lot of teams out there that don’t have that opportunity.”
