Future UNC QB Drake Maye considers his options with high school senior year in peril
As the last of the Maye brothers gets ready for his last high school year, a lot is up in the air.
Drake Maye had planned to quarterback Myers Park for one final season this fall — shooting for the state championship that barely eluded his team a year ago — and then to enroll at UNC in January. Like many elite football recruits, Maye figured skipping the final five months of his high school senior year would be worth the head start that the Tar Heels’ 2021 spring practice would give to his college career.
But that enrollment date may change, Maye told The Observer on Wednesday while participating in a protest designed to put pressure on officials at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to preserve high school fall sports in 2020 in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If football moves to the spring of 2021 the way it has in several other states, for instance, Maye would have a couple of big decisions to make. He could enroll in UNC in January as scheduled. He could stay at Myers Park and play his senior year in football. Or he could stay at Myers Park and play both football and basketball at almost exactly the same time.
In that hypothetical football-in-the-spring scenario, it sounds like UNC head football coach Mack Brown may have to wait a few months for Maye’s arrival.
“I think I’d have to play my high school season,” Maye said, “even if it’s moved to the spring.”
As for combining spring football with high school basketball, Maye pronounced the idea of doubling up “awesome” — although he admits the logistics would be difficult.
Maye and the other 100 or so participants at Wednesday’s protest hope it never comes to that. But with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools committed to a plan where students will attend school in-person on a rotational basis for the first two weeks and then receive all instruction remotely starting in Week 3, it’s possible all CMS fall sports will be canceled in the same way that high school sports were around the country this spring.
Maye called that possibility “devastating” and said of his experience in high school football: “I’ve made some lasting friendships for a lifetime in this sport. I think it really brings a community together. Being out there on Friday night with probably about the whole city, the whole fan base, whether it’s a playoff game or even just a regular Friday night — it’s special. Taking that away from us would be heartbreaking for sure.”
Like the other protesters Wednesday, Maye said he wasn’t trying to downplay the risks of COVID-19 but that he thought there could be a way to play sports safely in the fall once Gov. Roy Cooper lightens the statewide restrictions.
“I know this pandemic is something to take seriously,” Maye said. “But … we deserve a shot to play at least some kind of ball, and that’s what we’re here for. That’s what we’re hoping — that they’ll let us start practicing as soon as possible.”
Trading Alabama for UNC
Maye will be part of his family’s light blue line to Chapel Hill, although that didn’t seem to be the case a year ago. Maye -- a four-star recruit ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2021 by 247Sports, as well as the No. 21 prospect in the nation -- made a verbal commitment to play for Alabama in 2019. But in March, Maye de-committed from Alabama and coach Nick Saban and said he would instead go to UNC.
When I asked him about the change of heart, Maye said: “Coach Brown was a big reason.” As Maye explained it, early in his high school career, “Coach (Larry) Fedora was there and Carolina’s program was spiraling downhill. And … Alabama was a great opportunity.”
But Brown and his staff never stopped recruiting Maye, whose father Mark was a standout quarterback for the Tar Heels in the 1980s. And Drake Maye, in turn, was impressed by one game in particular during Brown’s first season back in Chapel Hill in 2019.
“They had Clemson in a bind at the end of the game, where they took a chance to win it,” said Maye, referring to Clemson’s 21-20 win over UNC last Sept. 28, when the Tar Heels unsuccessfully went for two points after scoring a late touchdown to try to win the game outright.
“I liked that call. It just showed me that Coach Brown has got them back. We’re rolling now in the recruitment, too. And I think it was something I would like to join and stay home and continue the family thing. So I’m looking forward to that.”
The “family thing” runs deep. Maye’s mom, Aimee, and dad have degrees from UNC. Oldest brother Luke made one of the most famous basketball shots in school history against Kentucky and helped the Tar Heels win the 2017 NCAA national championship. Brother No. 3, Beau, plans to enroll as a regular student at Chapel Hill in the fall. Drake will join him on campus in 2021.
Only brother No. 2 didn’t follow the Chapel Hill trend — Cole was a college baseball pitcher who went to Florida and was part of a Gator team that also won an NCAA title. However, Drake said, Cole Maye may also come to UNC for graduate school, which means all four Maye brothers may eventually earn a UNC degree like their parents did.
Drake has big plans for his time at Chapel Hill. And while most of them are about football, not all of them are.
As for basketball, he said: “I’m thinking about playing for Carolina. ... One of the other recruits, Keeshawn Silver (a defensive end from Rocky Mount), is going to play both.”
‘Save our season’
At quarterback, the Tar Heels already have one of the best in the country. Sam Howell (Sun Valley High) set a major-college record for a true freshman in 2019 with 38 touchdown passes. Howell is set as the starter for 2020 (if there is a college football season) and you would certainly assume he will start in 2021, too, when Maye will be a freshman. Maye allowed that he will likely be competing for a “backup spot” in 2021, although, he said, “I’m just going to show what I can do and let the coaches decide.”
That 2021 season might be the only overlapping year for the two QBs. Howell could turn pro after that season and should have that opportunity if his spectacular career arc continues.
The first goal in front of Maye, though, is to “save our high school season,” as he said repeatedly Wednesday. He and his Myers Park teammates — who were joined by prep players from around the county at the protest — want to start official practices as soon as possible before beginning the season sometime this fall. And if it’s spring, that’s OK, too, Maye said. He just doesn’t want to lose the entire thing.
“Especially for seniors,” Maye said, “this is something we look forward to pretty much our whole high school career. Walking out on Senior Night. Getting the last chance to play the last season with your teammates. Not even just for football — for all the other sports. ... We’re fighting for something here.”
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Future UNC QB Drake Maye considers his options with high school senior year in peril."
