Drake Maye is the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots.
He just finished his sophomore year in the NFL with a Super Bowl finish.
Unfortunately, they didn’t win, but what most don’t understand is that this is only the second year of the rebuild. This is only the beginning of what the Patriots’ future will become. With one man standing alone as the centerpiece.
That one man is Drake Maye.
But behind the handsome smile is so much more than what it Maye seem.
Maye comes from an athletic family. His father, Mark Maye, played quarterback for the University of North Carolina in the 1980s, and his brothers are also talented athletes.
His brother, Luke, currently plays basketball in the Japanese professional basketball league and for a team called the Kobe Storks. His oldest brother, Beau, is now a coach/teacher, but when he was in college, he earned a spot on the team as a walk-on. His brother, Cole, played baseball for the University of Florida Gators.
Drake Maye was not only good at football, but he was pretty good at basketball, too.
He was such a good prospect that if he really wanted to, he probably could’ve played basketball at UNC as well, on top of already playing and starting on their football team. But he focused on and really pursued his passion for football.
He started playing football in elementary school. He would play his first games of organized football while being coached by his dad.
Growing up, he went to Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he played multiple sports including basketball and baseball. During that time, he quickly climbed the ranks in the national rankings of QBs in all of the U.S. In his senior year, he threw for 4,000+ yards and 50+ touchdowns.
Originally, he committed to the University of Alabama, but later changed his decision and went to UNC. His first season as a starter (2022), he threw for 4,300+ yards and 38 touchdowns while having 600+ rushing yards.
Throughout his time at UNC, he broke school records, such as most total offensive yards in a season. He also had one of the highest touchdown totals in the school’s history.
He was so good that he was even considered for the Heisman as a candidate, which is an award that is given to the best college football player.
After deciding he was done with college football, he declared himself for the 2024 NFL draft. He was considered one of the best prospects in that draft class. The Patriots needed a quarterback badly after how much of a bust Mac Jones was, and with that, Drake Maye was selected by the Patriots in the first round with the third pick, which makes him one of the highest drafted QBs in the franchise’s history.
For the first six weeks of the NFL season, he was put into a background role as the backup so he could have some time to accumulate and adapt to the NFL to get a feel, but once that sixth week came, the offensive coaching staff believed he was ready, and then the rest was history.
