Bo Levi Mitchell completes passes at a 65 per cent clip, wins football games at an 82 per cent clip and wins Grey Cups at a 50 per cent clip.

To the 25-year-old Katy, Tex., native, however, those numbers only mean one thing: The Calgary Stampeders did not win the Grey Cup in 2015.

It’s why Mitchell couldn’t perfectly define his second full season as a CFL starting quarterback.

“Definitely,” said Mitchell, asked if he took the step forward he was hoping to in 2015. “I think I did. But I’m always going to look back and be that critic and always think there’s more I could have done.”

Mitchell quietly put up career highs in passing attempts, completions, completion percentage, passing yards and touchdowns, finishing runner-up to Henry Burris for the league’s Most Outstanding Player. Yet after winning a Grey Cup in his first season as a starter in 2014, Mitchell couldn’t repeat the feat this year.

That’s where, if you ask him, he missed the mark.

“If we’re not hoisting the cup at the end of the year then I didn’t do enough – I’m the guy that touches the ball every play,” said Mitchell. “Next year I’ll be looking to take that even bigger step.”

The real question is what more could Bo Levi Mitchell possibly have done?

“IF WE’RE NOT HOISTING THE CUP AT THE END OF THE YEAR, THEN I DIDN’T DO ENOUGH” – STAMPEDERS QB BO LEVI MITCHELL

In a league where young quarterbacks typically don’t succeed until their mid to late 20s, Mitchell didn’t just burst onto the scene – he made it look easy. No quarterback has started his career better than the current Stamps’ starter, whose 28-6 record through 34 games is one win better than Jackie Parker, Ken Ploen and Tracy Ham – all of whom went on to have Hall of Fame careers.

It started last year at age 24, when Mitchell was locked in a starting quarterback duel with Drew Tate. Mitchell had little CFL experience then but he did enough to win the job, and what happened after that was almost magical.

Mitchell led the Stamps to a 15-3 record in 2014, then won both of his playoff games to lead Calgary to a victory in the 102nd Grey Cup. He threw 22 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions in the regular season, while in the Grey Cup he flirted with Doug Flutie’s Grey Cup single-game completion percentage record while taking down the Ticats.

What could he do for an encore? That was the problem – Mitchell had already done it all, and done it so well and so fast that almost anything else would pale in comparison.

On top of setting career highs in virtually every statistical category, the Stamps’ starting pivot had six 300-yard passing games despite playing on the league’s most balanced offence. He didn’t throw for as many yards as Burris, the league’s MOP, but he threw exactly the same number of touchdowns while throwing 123 fewer passes.

Most impressive though was what Mitchell accomplished behind a patchwork offensive line, one that started the year without its top players in Stanley Bryant and Brett Jones (both off-season departures) and lost more as the season kicked off due to injury.

For comparison’s sake, the line Burris played behind in Ottawa deployed the same five starters every game all season. The Stamps’ offensive line used nine different starters, deployed 15 different offensive linemen on the roster and played 14 of them at one point or another.

Calgary’s offence still ranked fourth overall while Mitchell was among the league’s top-rated passers.

“That’s the biggest positive to pull from it,” said Mitchell on Calgary’s season. “We speak about injuries and every team goes through them. I think for us the devastating part was that most of them happened at one or two positions, and that’s what made it tough.

“I was very proud of the way the guys hung in and we fought, and that was my favourite thing about playing with the guys – we’re going to fight no matter what until the end.”

When the going got tough though, Mitchell responded like an elite quarterback. The best example was in the Western Semi-Final, when Shane Bergman and Pierre Lavertu each went down with injuries only adding to Calgary’s misery up front.

Quinn Smith and Junior Turner went from defensive linemen to offensive linemen that game while Spencer Wilson shifted to centre. Mitchell stood behind Calgary’s makeshift line and made quick decisions and decisive throws to lead the Stampeders over the BC Lions.

The success speaks to John Hufnagel and the team’s ability to adjust when things go wrong, but also Mitchell’s ability to avoid being sacked. Despite the issues up front he was sacked at a rate of 2.3 per cent (one on every 43 passing attempts), the third-best of any quarterback behind Burris and Zach Collaros.

It’s not to make excuses, but what’s clear for Mitchell entering his third season is that the best is shockingly yet to come. Quarterbacks in the CFL hit their prime closer to the age of 30 than 25, and Mitchell’s development curve is still trending upward.

One thing you can expect different from him at age 26 isn’t in the pass game but the run game, where he said he hopes to run the ball more. Mitchell said injuries on the O-line meant a change in strategy this year, but he feels his athleticism can make him more impactful in that area of the game in the future.

“I was second in the league in rushing last year so this year was a lot different but it’s because of injuries and the way they played out,” said Mitchell, who last off-season added some weight in order to absorb hits but this year hopes to find a happy medium so he can be quicker.

“It was kind of decided that I was going to be in the pocket a little more and make an impact that way and I’m always happy to do that,” he added. “But the CFL’s a big field.

“You’ve got to be able to run.”

What the next step really is for Mitchell is hard to define, but he knows it’ll involve some new challenges. Change has come early in Cow Town this off-season as Jon Cornish announced his retirement while Defensive Coordinator Rich Stubler and Head Coach John Hufnagel won’t be on the sidelines.

While incoming head coach Dave Dickenson takes over the headset, a coach Mitchell is already very familiar with, more changes could be coming as receivers Eric Rogers and Jeff Fuller along with running back Jerome Messam are due to become free agents in February.

Next year meanwhile Mitchell will be a year older, and with another year of experience comes a greater set of expectations. Whatever that next step entails, the peripherals tell us it’ll be pretty special – and you can be sure that in Mitchell’s mind it involves a second Grey Cup ring.

“Sure,” Mitchell surmised, “I took a step this year.

“But a bigger one must be taken in order to keep bringing championships back to Calgary.”

June is still a long way off, but Bo Levi Mitchell can hardly wait.