Scouting Drake Maye: North Carolina quarterback similar to Carson Palmer
NFL.com analyst and former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah takes a "first look" at some of college football's top players for 2023. This is the fifth and final entry in a series of scouting reports that ran in July.
Coming off a dazzling first season as a starter, North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is one of the buzziest prospects in college football entering the 2023 season.
After redshirting in 2021 (appeared in four games), Maye rose to the top of the depth chart in 2022, throwing for 4,321 yards (fourth in the FBS) and 38 touchdowns (tied for fifth). He showed the ability make plays with his legs, too, ranking sixth among FBS quarterbacks with 698 yards rushing.
As you might expect with production like that, plenty of accolades followed. He became the second player in history to win ACC Player of the Year, ACC Offensive Player of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year in the same season, joining Florida State product Jameis Winston.
Maye enters this season with some changes to his supporting cast. His top two receivers from 2022, Josh Downs and Antoine Green, have moved on to the NFL. Also, he'll have a new offensive coordinator, as Chip Lindsey replaces Phil Longo, who left to become the OC at Wisconsin. Interestingly, UNC has brought in longtime NFL assistant coach Clyde Christensen as a volunteer offensive analyst. He has experience coaching Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and, most recently, Tom Brady.
I'm excited to see how the new offense jells, with Maye looking to lead a more complete season from the Tar Heels after they lost their last four contests in 2022.
Now that I've had a chance to check out Maye's game tape from last season, here is my initial scouting report.
Height, weight: 6-foot
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