The New England Patriots selected North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the third overall choice in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday night. Maye committed to Alabama in July 2019, but switched to the Tar Heels when the Crimson Tide added Bryce Young two months later. Maye is one of the few that escaped college football icon Nick Saban, but the former Crimson Tide coach says he had nothing but admiration for the Patriots’ new quarterback.
“I should be mad at him,” Saban remarked of Maye during NFL Draft coverage. “But he decommitted when Bryce committed, so I understand, plus it’s a North Carolina family. He had a successful career and accomplished an excellent job for the state. I really appreciate this dude, bro. “This guy is wired correctly.”
Maye discussed his “tough” choice to leave Saban and the Crimson Tide on The Dan Patrick Show earlier this week.
“It was tough,” Maye said. “I dreaded it for a while. Coach Saban was one of my favorites in the recruiting process. So, having to tell him that I was going to stay home was tough. But I think Coach Saban understood. Maybe it would have worked out a little differently, but at the same time, Coach Saban, I think he’s the GOAT of college football. He turned out alright.”
Maye’s older brother Luke, a star on UNC’s basketball team from 2015-19, said the Crimson Tide’s decision to take Young with Drake already on board “hurt” his younger brother.
“Drake said since the fifth or sixth grade, ‘Coach Saban is going to offer me a scholarship, and I’m going to Alabama,'” Luke said in 2021. “He really believed that and worked his butt off, and he made it happen. But it’s Alabama. They’re always going to try and get the best guys, and they didn’t have a quarterback the year before Drake. They signed Bryce Young away from USC, which was a huge commit for them because he was the No. 1 guy in the class. It hurt Drake because that’s a really good quarterback in the year right in front of him.”
After feeling snubbed by Alabama, Drake decided to stay in his home state and play for the Tar Heels, where his father, Mark, starred at quarterback from 1984-87.
“He felt like trying to do something at Carolina,” he added. “With them developing a program and his [being able] to stay near to home, he believed it would be more appealing to do something at Carolina than to go to Alabama and accomplish something as a junior or senior. I believe he could have flourished at Alabama as well, but it was more about wanting to establish something great at Carolina.”
