Myers Park star QB Drake Maye says he’ll enroll at UNC in spring. What does that mean?
Quarterback Drake Maye has changed his mind.
After initially planning to stay at Myers Park High School and play his senior season of football in the spring, Maye will now head to college early and enroll at North Carolina in January.
Maye is ranked No. 21 nationally by 247 Sports and is the No. 2 pro-style quarterback recruit nationally. He’s the No. 1 recruit in the state.
The N.C. High School High School Athletic Association moved the start of the high school football season from Aug. 1 to Feb. 8 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Maye had originally planned to play football this fall and enroll in college in January. But after the change to the sports calendar, Maye wanted to stay at Myers Park and play his senior season.
That has now changed.
“I think it’s best for my future to get up there and get going with class and get going with spring (practice),” Maye said. “Who knows if (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools) will play in the spring? That would be a real bummer if we end up not playing and I’m still stuck in high school.”
Last season, Maye completed 210 of 290 passes for 3,512 yards, 50 touchdowns and two interceptions. He didn’t play in eight fourth quarters due to blowouts. He also had 210 yards rushing and six touchdowns.
In two seasons at Myers Park, Maye led the Mustangs to a 25-3 record.
Maye originally committed to Alabama last year before de-committing and deciding to play at North Carolina. His father, Mark, was a quarterback for the Tar Heels from 1984 until 1987, and his brother, Luke, played basketball at UNC from 2015 through 2019. Luke helped North Carolina win a national championship in 2017.
Drake Maye said he’ll play in the Under Armour All-American game Jan. 3 in Orlando and enroll at UNC two weeks after that.
Maye said he and current Tar Heels quarterback Sam Howell are close, and Maye said he hoped to learn a lot about the college game from Howell.
“I’m going in there to compete,” Maye said. “Sam’s been playing great, and I bet he’ll continue to play great. Hopefully, I can go in and battle and earn the backup job. You’ve always got to be ready. We’ll see how it shakes out.”
Without Maye, Myers Park is going to have a struggle at quarterback. Backups Owen and Aiden McCown — sons of former Panthers QB Josh McCown — have moved back home to Texas.
Owen is the starting quarterback for the Rusk (Texas) Eagles. Rusk is 3-3 and Owen McCown, a junior, has thrown for 678 yards and seven touchdowns. Aiden, a sophomore, is his backup.
In Charlotte, Maye said leaving Myers Park was hard.
“I feel, kind of like, that my heart is in two places,” he said, “leaving or staying. I think the Myers Park people are happy for whatever decision I make. They want me to stay there, but at the end of the day, they want me to succeed at the next level and that’s the most important thing in my life right now.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 4:53 PM.
