North Carolina freshman starting quarterback Drake Maye made headlines earlier this week at a press conference when he said that players only go to rival NC State if they “can’t get into North Carolina”.
Maye has since apologized for those comments, as has coach Mack Brown.
NC State coach Dave Doeren, who has guided the Wolfpack to a 3–0 start to the season and a No. 12 ranking in the AP poll, reacted to Maye’s comments on Friday in an interview with CBS Sports’ Damon Amendolara.
“We’re focused on beating UConn and they have a game of their own,” Doeren said when he asked if he paid any attention to the comments of Maye.
“It’s a young player putting his foot in his mouth. Those things happen. It’s nothing that I’m going to pay a lot of attention to until we get ready to play them,” Doeren added.
When asked by Amendolara about social media in today’s age and Mack Brown’s comments about things getting blown out of proportion on the internet, Doeren was quick to respond.
“We’re going to use every advantage we can get, so if there’s something out there that will inspire my team, I’m gonna definitely tap into that and on the flipside we’re going to try to not be a part of that. It’s not our job to try to give the opponents bulletin board material,” Doeren said.
NC State faces UConn on Saturday, while North Carolina hosts Notre Dame. The two teams will renew their annual rivalry in the final week of the regular season on November 25 in Chapel Hill.
