Mitch Trubisky meets with Browns at NFL Combine, talks about his hometown team

The talks about Mitch Trubisky being linked to the Cleveland Browns are starting to heat up a tad now that the NFL Combine is here. But first, our first order of business:

That might take awhile to catch on. Much was made about Trubisky’s height leading up to the combine, with reports saying that he would not measure in at 6-2 but instead at 6-0 or 6-1. When he was measured, though, he came in 6-2⅛, a size that Browns head coach Hue Jackson had mentioned was the minimum he wants to have in a quarterback.

“[Worrying about my height was not an issue at all],” said Trubisky. “I mean I know how tall I am. I knew I was going to measure that tall. I could've came out earlier and told everyone I was going to measure that, but I just let it come out on measurement day. It is what it is. It's not going to affect me as a football player in any way.”

When Trubisky was interviewed at the Combine on Friday, he said that he’d already had informal meetings with Cleveland, but that a formal meeting was scheduled for Friday night. When asked how he’d like to play for his hometown team, he played it by saying that it’ll be exciting to play for any team that takes him:

"I'm going to excited wherever I go. I have a lot of pride of where I'm from that being my hometown, but no matter what team selects me I'm going to be super excited. I'm going to work as hard possible wherever I go. It's been a dream come true. It's been a dream of mine to play in the NFL since I was a little kid, so whoever picks me, it's going to be a dream come true."

Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer released a report on Thursday stating that sources tell her Cleveland will “strongly consider Trubisky at No. 1 overall.” Mike Silver of the NFL Network later had something a little different to say, which we’ll touch on tonight.

Here are some other highlights from Trubisky’s interview:

(When you talk to teams, how answer question about only one season as a college starter, is there enough experience to jump to this level): "Yeah, definitely. That's a question everybody's asking. I think I definitely have enough experience. I only have 13 starts but I played in 30 games. I've come in off the bench and I've seen significant time. I was prepared really well at North Carolina by coach [Keith] Heckendorf, a really good quarterbacks coach, and I've studied the game. I'm a student of the game and I've seen a lot of defenses, and I think that's going to help me. And just my abilities, I feel like I'm in a really good spot right now to take my game to the next level, and I feel really confident."

(Besides only 13 starts, what are teams grilling you on): "They’re not even really grilling me on that really, they’re just trying to get to know me and pick my brain and see how well that I know football, and what kind of system I ran at north Carolina. And it’s been a good process so far. I don’t think that’s a big concern from the teams that I’ve talked to so far. They could tell I know the game very well, they’re impressed with my tape and I’m just trying to show them what kind of person I am and just stay confident and get ready for the rest of this process."

(Face of franchise. What will you do to get locker room, fans to believe in you): "Yeah, absolutely, and I believe that comes pretty naturally for me. I feel like I can be that guy, I’m going to carry myself the right way, on and off the field and I’m just going to go in there and try to earn the respect of everyone I surround myself with. And whoever’s around me I’m going to try to make them better as a player and person on and off the field."

(UNC offense how help prepare for NFL. Biggest adjustments): "North Carolina definitely prepared me for the next level, just because it’s a quarterback-centric offense and all the decisions and what happens each and every play goes through the quarterback. We didn’t do a lot of audibles, but we did a lot of decision-making on my part. So based on what the defense gave me, that would determine whether it was a run or a pass or a mixture of the two. It did a great job preparing me in that way. I think that has helped me in my decision-making. And I think what I need to do for the next level is just get used to the verbiage and the new offense I’m getting into. So it’s going to be a little bit different calling a play in the huddle, but that’s something I see that comes naturally and I have been practicing that and I think it’s going to go really well."

(Takeaways from bowl game, good and bad in it): "Obviously the bad is that I had two turnovers and that we lost. The good is that we were two points away from tying it. I didn’t play my best game, we were down some guys because of injury, but I love my team, I wouldn’t change it. And we never gave up. I made some mistakes, but we came back, put a drive together and we were almost able to take it into overtime. That’s a really good defense, probably one of the best we played all year."