Drake Maye “earned the right” to be North Carolina’s starter at quarterback when the Tar Heels face Florida A&M Saturday in the season opener. Just how much time he spends under center will depend on his play.
Maye beat out Jacolby Criswell for the right to start in a battle that has been bubbling since last season. The Heels anticipated three-year starter Sam Howell, who is now with the Washington Commanders in the NFL, turning pro a year early.
“Picking a starter between these two is like choosing between my 9-year-old daughter and my 11-year-old daughter, it’s just hard to do,” UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo said. “They both right now could start and run this offense and run this team.”
UNC coach Mack Brown did not elaborate on the details of why or how Maye won the job other than saying, “he earned the right” during a very close competition. Brown said Criswell will also play in the game, but there is no pre-determined plan on when.
“There’s just very little difference between the two,” Brown said. “And again, if one quarterback is not moving the ball, we’ll put the other one in. We’ve done that in the past.”
Brown has tried to create an edge at every position, where playing time is earned every practice and no one can be content that their production is good enough.
“The only thing that matters is who we think, right now, gives us the best chance to win,” Brown said.
The audition to replace Howell unofficially began last season against Wofford, when Howell was sidelined by an injury and Criswell got the start. Maye also played in the Tar Heels’ 34-14 win.
Longo said in the spring that he probably wouldn’t have to make the decision, because the players would determine it when one of them separated from the other.
“I was wrong because the two of them did very well,” said Longo, who later added that he believes they are both “very good ACC quarterbacks.”
Longo informed Maye on Sunday night and told Criswell on Monday morning of the decision. Although the competition for the starting job is over, the title of starter is not a permanent position.
“It’s fair to say that Drake will take the field first and then we’re going to let the game dictate what we do after that,” Longo said.
Longo said with Maye they focused on improving his footwork and his decision making in order to get the ball out faster. One point of emphasis for both quarterbacks was to get rid of the ball sooner to help avoid a repeat of Carolina’s ACC worst 49 sacks last season.
“We cleaned up his footwork, so there’s no wasted movement, and he’s a much better passer because of it,” Longo said. “He’s doing a much better job to just being consistent with regards to decision making in the run game, decision making with RPOs (run-pass options), decision making with regards to pass protection.”
About that run game, don’t expect Maye — or Criswell — to duplicate Howell’s performance from last season, when he was ranked in the league’s top 10 in rushing yards.
And Longo said when the quarterback does run, don’t expect them to stay upright fighting for yards like Howell did last season. Their mandate is to get yards and get down to avoid taking big hits.
“You don’t want your quarterback to be a 1,000-yard rusher,” Longo said. “Last year, that was a necessity. We lost two 1,000-yard rushers, we replaced one with Ty Chandler. There wasn’t another guy that that we felt was playing at that level last year and it became Sam Howell.”
Maye, the son of former UNC quarterback Mark Maye and brother to former UNC basketball forward Luke Maye, was a heralded recruit out of Charlotte’s Myers Park High School. He initially committed to Alabama, but flipped and signed with Carolina.
