Is Drake Maye the gem of UNC’s best class ever? Myers Park star hopes for national title
Myers Park High football coach Scott Chadwick said it’s not often that you get to coach a player like Drake Maye, the star quarterback who signed with North Carolina on Wednesday.
“On campus,” Chadwick said, “he’s like larger than life. He’ll walk into my classroom and kids will be like, ‘There’s Drake Maye,’ like he’s not even a peer of theirs.”
Chadwick said he has marveled at Maye’s popularity and his ability for the two years he has coached him. Maye will forgo his senior season at Myers Park. Due to COVID, N.C. public schools begin play in February. Maye will leave for Chapel Hill next month.
And Chadwick said he’s leaving quite a legacy.
Maye is the highest-rated player in school history, according to his coach, and certainly one of the best. As a sophomore, Maye threw for 3,201 yards, 36 touchdowns and just five interceptions, leading the Mustangs to the state semifinals. As a junior, he was even better, throwing for 3,512 yards, 50 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
“Sometimes,” Chadwick said, “numbers don’t necessarily tell the right story about a kid, but in his case, I think the numbers tell the story perfectly. When you look at his touchdown-to-interception ratio — 50 to 2 — it sounds like video game numbers.”
247 Sports ranks Maye as the No. 1 player in North Carolina, regardless of position. Nationally, it ranks Maye the No. 24 overall recruit and the No. 2 recruit among pro-style quarterbacks. He’s the jewel of a recruiting class that could be the best in North Carolina’s history.
The Tar Heels signed nine of the top-20 players in the state Wednesday, including Maye.
“We feel like (the ‘21 class) may be the best class of players in this state that we’ve ever seen,” Tar Heels coach Mack Brown told The Observer last spring when appeared on the “Talking Preps” streaming TV show.
Maye said it will be tough to not play his senior season, but he couldn’t wait to get to school and learn an offense that ranks in the top two in the ACC in total yards, points and passing yards per game.
“I’m excited to start the next chapter,” he said, “and get things going in January. It’ll be a little weird to miss your senior season, but I’m looking forward to it, getting out there and getting started and doing what I can to help Carolina win.”
‘I’ll Miss It More Than Anything’
Wednesday was the fourth time that high school football players could sign with colleges early. Historically, players have signed in February.
But this year, Shelby High star Jack Hollifield said, was different.
COVID-19 has shut down recruits’ ability to visit college campuses, and Zoom has become the No. 1 recruiting tool. But Hollifield said early signing day was still so special that he woke up nervous Wednesday morning.
“I don’t know why,” he said moments before signing with Virginia Tech. “I know where I’m going, but it’s the end of high school, you know what I mean?”
Hollifield helped Shelby win a state championship last December. He hoped he have a chance to play for another one this year, but now he’ll head to Blacksburg, Virginia, where his brother Dax — another former Shelby High star — is a junior linebacker.
Jack said he will switch from inside linebacker to tight end at Virginia Tech, despite being ranked among the nation’s top-30 prospects at his defensive position, according to 247 Sports.
But as excited as he is to be leaving for school, a part of him will always be at Shelby, where his father, Aubrey, is head boys basketball and assistant football coach.
“It feels good to put the pen to the paper (and sign),” Hollifield said. “But I’ll miss (high school) more than anything. I grew up coming to Shelby High School games with my dad. It’s kind of been my life. It’s going to kill me to not play with my friends (in February), but I’ve got to do what’s best for me, which is to go to Tech. I’ve been talking to the tight ends coach and my brother a lot. They use three tight ends a game. There’s an opportunity for me and I have a shot.”
One Final Act
Throughout North Carolina Wednesday, a lot of top-tier talent took their final acts as high school athletes (here are full lists from Charlotte and the Triangle).
▪ At Millbrook, Diego Pounds, a top-25 N.C. recruit, signed with the Tar Heels. Teammate Bryce Steele signed with Boston College.
▪ At Hough, 11 players signed, including running back Evan Pryor, the No. 4 recruit in the state. Pryor signed with Ohio State.
▪ Reigning N.C. 4AA state champion Vance had three football players sign, including two-time Associated Press defensive player of the year Power Echols. Echols is part of the 2021 class at North Carolina.
▪ And at Myers Park, five Mustangs signed with colleges, including Maye, the quarterback, whom his coach said will leave quite a legacy.
“His numbers, from a production standpoint, speak for themselves,” Chadwick said, “but it’s been the kind of character he’s brought to our program. He’s just a kid who is so respected. That respect he’s brought in from his teammates and his character, more than anything, have elevated our program.”
Maye’s father, Mark, played quarterback for the Tar Heels in the ‘80s. His brother, Luke, won a national basketball championship at UNC in 2017.
Drake said he’s keeping up a tradition.
“It’s all about winning for me,” he said. “Going in there on Saturday, no matter who it is, and I just hope we can get to the college football playoff and win the national championship for Carolina football.”
Chadwick said, with Maye, the Tar Heels will have a chance to be great.
“I think they are getting the best quarterback in the country,” Chadwick said. “I’ve watched film of all of the other guys. I think he will continue the high level of play they are getting right now (from Sam Howell), and I also think Drake’s a guy they will be extremely proud to have representing their program and school — just because of the kind of person he is.”
