Heels4Life, UNC’s NIL collective for football, won’t comment on whether it helped Drake Maye stay.

After Mack Brown railed about the tampering going on in the illegal pursuit of college freshmen and transfers, he refused to say which schools had offered Maye money to leave UNC for what will surely be his last season playing college football.

“I can’t say that,” Brown said, “and don’t ask Drake. He’s a young guy and that’s uncomfortable for him. You know who they are. Just look at all the schools that are getting the top recruits. They’re the ones paying all the money. So you can figure that out. Take two of those 10 and you’re right. You got it, and it’s probably more than the two that I know of.”

At 71, and admittedly at his last stop in coaching, Brown doesn’t care who he is slamming when it comes to breaking rules that he says he has followed for more than 40 years. “Cheaters cheat,” he said.

Brown was asked if exposing what is going on so that the media can share it isn’t the best way to eliminate the cheating.

“It’s a great question,” Brown said. “The problem is it’s all done through agents and they would absolutely say it was a lie.” Asked if that meant there is no paperwork on these NIL offers, Brown said, “There’s no paper trail, there’s no way to prove it. It’s all agent to agent.”

Meanwhile, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi claims Maye was offered $5 million by two schools.

Brown related that one transfer visited UNC and left Brown with the impression he was coming. “He went to another school and called us 30 minutes after he got there and said, ‘Coach, they offered me this, this, and this. So I’m going.’ He didn’t even see the campus. He just got off the plane.

“So, I hate it, but cheaters cheat and that’s the way it is out there. And they are actually just purchasing kids, which I hate. And there are some that are saying now that promises being made aren’t being fulfilled.

“So we’re gonna see lawsuits and guys that don’t get what they wanted or they didn’t play well enough and they’re not gonna pay ’em what they said they were gonna pay ’em. People paying guys up front and not going through the collectives and doing it the proper way, it’s completely out of control.”

Graham Boone, the CEO of Heels4Life, declined to comment on how they might have helped Maye make up his mind, even though explaining what happened might encourage UNC alumni and fans to be proud of their school and more willing to get involved.

We just have to take his word, and Brown’s, they are doing it the right way and staying competitive in this new world of NIL.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Jacob Kupferman

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