Trubisky and Williams battle it out for starting QB job in UNC's spring game

Mitch Trubisky stood in the elevator and waited, because that’s all he can do now.

The uncomfortable silence inside it was eclipsed only by the disparity in athleticism between Trubisky and its other occupants, all reporters, who minutes earlier had been probing the young quarterback about his performance in North Carolina’s spring game.

Entering Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage at Kenan Stadium, the competition between Trubisky, a precocious redshirt freshman, and Marquise Williams, the redshirt junior who led UNC to the Belk Bowl last season, was discussed, debated and deliberated at length.

The game — a 38-17 win by Blue Team — provided the quarterbacks their last opportunity until training camp to show why they should lead the offense when UNC opens its season Aug. 30.

But it was just that — an opportunity — and coach Larry Fedora was predictably elusive about which dual-threat quarterback would be his starter in four months.

“I thought both of them made some good plays,” Fedora said after the game. “We’ll keep evaluating, and they’ll keep competing.”

Fedora’s words were nebulous, of course, so a reporter asked the question everyone wants to know the answer to: Coach, who would you say is ahead in the depth chart right now?

“I wouldn’t,” Fedora responded, then took a sizeable swig from his water bottle before preparing for the next question.

That’s the environment of a hypersensitive quarterback competition, and Saturday’s scrimmage offered glimpses of why the race to be the starter is so close.

Both Williams and Trubisky took snaps with Blue Team, the first-team offense, and after a lethargic start they established some semblance of a real-game rhythm to direct UNC’s spread attack.

Trubisky’s first series was forgettable — a 3-and-out in which he significantly underthrew an open receiver on a 2nd-down flea-flicker and overthrew another on the next play — but from then he was mostly poised and efficient: 20-32 for 183 yards with a deflected interception.

“Coach always said, ‘Just come out — you don’t have to make a splash. You just do your job and distribute the ball to all the playmakers,’” Trubisky said after the game, sitting uneasily and fielding questions few players like to answer. “And I think that’s what I did today.”

Fedora said he was encouraged by the redshirt freshman’s grasp of the offense.

“He’s come a long way,” he said. “He understands the offense now. He’s got a pretty good feel of where to go with the ball.”

Feet away from Trubisky sat Williams, who during the scrimmage was both erratic and effective, like the player who helped save UNC’s 2013 season. The incumbent starter threw for 135 yards on 32 attempts with a keep-the-play-alive interception.

“I felt comfortable out there,” Williams said. “When I was back there I just felt like I was watching TV.”

Still, there was no indication from Fedora or either quarterback about who’d be starting in August.

“I’m just curious what the coaches think right now,” Trubisky said before leaving for the elevator.

He waited — for it to descend to the first floor, sure, but also for something more, the day Fedora names the starter — and then walked off.

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