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Winter, Spring Headlines Raise Question: ‘Maye’ UNC Capitalize On NFL-Bound QB?
By David Glenn
North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye can’t seem to stay out of the headlines.
At the end of November, Maye was named the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year. The last UNC football player to receive that honor, legendary linebacker Lawrence Taylor, led the Tar Heels to their most recent ACC championship that season (1980) and went on to become one of the greatest players in National Football League history.
In December, UNC coach Mack Brown told the media that two prominent, but unspecified, programs had heavily recruited Maye in violation of NCAA tampering rules, and there were unsubstantiated reports (denied by Maye and his family) that the young superstar had received multimillion-dollar Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) offers from representatives of other schools.
In January, after dozens of college underclassmen announced their stay-or-go decisions regarding the 2023 NFL draft, Maye was ranked near the top of most early projections for both the 2023 Heisman Trophy and the 2024 draft. The only player consistently listed above Maye on both lists was Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman winner.
On March 27, UNC held its annual Pro Day in Chapel Hill, and 45 NFL scouts and other personnel — representing all 32 NFL teams — were there to see it, even though the Tar Heels had only four draft-eligible prospects working out that day.
The professional scouts had various levels of interest in wide receivers Josh Downs and Antoine Green, offensive lineman Asim Richards and defensive lineman Ray Vohasek. Linebacker Noah Taylor also attended the event, although his participation was limited by injury.
The main attraction, instead, was Maye, even though he won’t be eligible for the draft until 2024, after his upcoming third season with the Tar Heels.
Maye again will be the center of attention Saturday, when UNC concludes spring practice with its annual exhibition at Kenan Stadium (3 pm, free admission, free parking in designated lots).
According to Brown, during the roughly 45 minutes Maye threw passes to Downs and Green in front of the scouts about two weeks ago, no football touched the ground.
“Drake put it where they couldn’t drop it,” Brown said. “He’s really sharp. … He has picked up where he left off.”
Last season, as a redshirt freshman, Maye completed 342 of 517 passes (66.2 percent) for 4,321 yards and 38 touchdowns and rushed for 698 yards and seven TDs. Nationally, Maye finished second in total offense per game (358.5 yards), sixth in passing yards per game (308.6) and fifth in passing TDs (38).
The only other college quarterbacks since 2010 to post at least 4,000 passing yards, 35 passing TDs, 650 rushing yards and seven rushing TDs in a single season were Baylor’s Robert Griffin III (2011), Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel (2013), Oregon’s Marcus Mariota (2014), Clemson’s Deshaun Watson (2015, 2016) and Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray (2018).
All five of those quarterbacks became first-round NFL draft picks. All but Watson won the Heisman Trophy (although Manziel did so the season before posting the abovementioned combination of statistics). Each led a team that won 10 or more games and finished in the top 15 of the postseason national rankings. Watson led the Tigers to the 2016 national title.
In Maye’s record-setting season last fall, the Tar Heels appeared poised for a truly special campaign in mid-November, when they were 9-1 and #13 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but ultimately they fell well short of a dream season.
Carolina (9-5) won the program’s second Coastal Division title and advanced to the ACC championship game for just the second time since that format/event was launched in 2005, but the Heels ended their season on a four-game losing streak, including a 39-10 annihilation by #9 Clemson in Charlotte and then a 28-27 loss to #15 Oregon in the Holiday Bowl.
Oddly, although UNC has produced all four of its starting-caliber NFL quarterbacks (counting Maye and projected 2023 Washington Commanders starter Sam Howell) just within the last 15 years, the Tar Heels thus far have been unable to capitalize with any truly unforgettable seasons during those players’ seasons as starters in Chapel Hill.
When East Carolina had its most prominent future NFL quarterback on campus, the Pirates capitalized with the greatest season in school history.
The year was 1991. Jeff Blake, who later played 13 seasons in the NFL (eight as a starter), was the quarterback. The Pirates went 11-1, beat NC State in the Peach Bowl and finished #9 in the final Associated Press poll. The 11 victories still rank as the most in program history, the national ranking still ranks as the only top-10 finish in program history, and Blake finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting.
When NC State had its most prominent future NFL quarterback on campus, the Wolfpack capitalized with one of the greatest seasons in school history.
The year was 2002. Philip Rivers, who later played 17 seasons in the NFL (15 as a starter), was the quarterback. The Wolfpack went 11-3, smashed #11 Notre Dame 28-6 in the Gator Bowl and finished #12 in the final Associated Press poll. The 11 victories still rank as the only double-digit win total in program history, and the final national ranking still ranks as the second-highest in program history. Rivers finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior, in 2003.
To Brown’s credit, he’s done some good things with Howell and Maye at the controls.
The Tar Heels’ 8-4 record during the COVID-complicated 2020 season ended with a #18 final AP ranking. That marked just the second time (along with the 11-3 campaign under Larry Fedora in 2015) the Heels finished in the Top 25 since Brown left UNC for Texas in 1997.
Similarly, Carolina’s nine victories last year marked the program’s second-highest win total (again, behind 2015) since Brown’s initial, decade-long tenure in Chapel Hill (1988-97), which included several uber-talented teams and ended with sensational, back-to-back top-10 finishes.
Especially with the expanded schedules of modern college football, of course, eight- and nine-win seasons aren’t considered truly remarkable anymore.
If Maye and Brown can make more of the right kinds of headlines for the remainder of 2023, perhaps the Tar Heels finally will have another truly special season of their own.
(featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati)
David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.
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