NC’S HUNTERSVILLE — Dad decided it was time to enlarge the driveway at the end of this suburban Charlotte cul-de-sac a few years ago. He was tired of watching his four youngsters play pickup basketball and wreck the garage.
The driveway used to be full on clear summer nights, the kind where the heat clings to you long after the sun goes down. By the boys, for sure. Perhaps a few buddies as well. Open-door guidelines. Arrive when you please and depart when necessary.
This was the home game, “King of the Court.” Stay until you lose one-on-one, then switch up who defends. Only the most flagrant fouls were called as fouls. They played until the length of their shadows. Dad’s truck had a lot of games set up in front of the headlights.
The participants evolved with time. A few hours away, the oldest was off to capture a national title for the cherished blue blood. The other left to play baseball at the University of Florida, where he pitched the team to its second consecutive national championship.
There were still the two youngest. Known for their fierce nature, they frequently concluded games in the driveway by swinging their elbows. Dad eventually had to act as a referee, mediating conflicts and attempting to put an end to things before noses got bloody and eyes were darkened. He persisted despite the boys calling him “Buzzkill” for intervening.
It is still the hoop over the driveway. The parents have moved out. The youngest boy left with his possessions in his old white pickup earlier this summer to go it alone.
Drake Maye, 21, benefited from being the NFL’s third overall pick this offseason by signing a four-year contract worth more than $36 million with the New England Patriots. Certainly, that will cover the cost of shipping his truck north. Consider getting a new one. However, he desired to drive his truck up by himself. He started the process of bringing back a franchise whose heyday seems to be in the past after backing out of the driveway.
Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots, flew down to Carolina to pick up the team’s new quarterback, Maye, after New England selected him. Drake was adamant about taking his three brothers. When he was formally presented at Gillette Stadium that afternoon, he also brought Luke, 27, Cole, 26, and Beau, 23 on stage.
“If you’re getting me,” Drake said on the podium that day, “you’re getting them.”
At breakfast, 59-year-old Mark Maye scoops some scrambled eggs to go with his bread. He sip orange juice. He has spent his entire life in this region. grew raised in Charlotte. played at Independence High School, just down the street. While at the University of North Carolina, he was an outstanding quarterback. According to some who know him, if it were not for his bothersome shoulder, he might still be in the NFL.
Everyone in this town, it seems, knows him, and they all stop by the table to say hello. At different restaurant tables, he runs into a football coach he is been assisting, a school official, and a longtime friend who are all excited to hear about his recent hip surgery and how the boys are doing.
Mark just returned from a trip to Foxboro, Massachusetts. It was his first visit since he had played there as a freshman quarterback for UNC and had witnessed Doug Flutie destroy the Tar Heels with six touchdowns and 52 points to start his 1984 Heisman campaign at the former Sullivan Stadium.
There was not much Mark and Aimee had planned for their trip to New England. I was merely interested in seeing Drake’s new flat and getting a sense of the space that will be his home. They were shocked to find that Drake was already being stopped for photos when they set out to find the greatest burger and ice cream cone in the small communities surrounding Foxboro.
There was not much Mark and Aimee had planned for their trip to New England. I was merely interested in seeing Drake’s new flat and getting a sense of the space that will be his home. They were shocked to find that Drake was already being stopped for photos when they set out to find the greatest burger and ice cream cone in the small communities surrounding Foxboro.
Drake made his father promise him a trip to the Super Bowl if his beloved Carolina Panthers won in 2015, and he had a Cam Newton Fathead hanging on the wall of his boyhood bedroom. They watched from the stands as Newton led the Panthers onto the field at Super Bowl 50, four months later. When he attended the 2017 NCAA Tournament, he saw Luke win the game and advance UNC to the Final Four.
He spent a lot of his childhood playing pickup football in foul area or shooting baskets with other children his age during halftime in the backseat of the family car while his brother was playing a game or practicing. No matter the expense or how often his father begged them not to get too rough, all he wanted to do at home was beat his older brothers.
A Nerf mini hoop was built in the foyer when Drake was eight years old. Mark cautioned the children. He did not want to have to take anyone to the hospital, therefore he was going to the other room for a short while. “Then as soon as I turn the corner, I hear bang!” Mark said. “Drake cut his head on the banister.”
Runt of the litter was Drake. He is a couple inches shorter than his brothers even at 6-foot-4. But he was the worst prick, full of insults all the time. Drake said he would encourage the great coach to return in a few years to recruit an even better player when Roy Williams visited the residence to recruit Luke.
With parents Mark and Aimee presiding, Drake Maye (second from right) grew up constantly competing with older brothers Luke, (left), Cole (right) and Beau (second from left). (Courtesy of Aimee Maye)
Perched atop a hill, Myers Park High School’s football field boasts large trees behind the stands, giving it an authentic old-school vibe on Friday evenings. It was at these events that Maye turned into a standout potential in front of standing-room only audiences. Before his sophomore year, he moved here because an older quarterback at Hough High School—the school attended by his three other brothers—was preventing him from getting playing time. Maye passed for 3,201 yards in 13 games during his rookie campaign at Myers Park, along with 36 touchdowns and five interceptions. He swiftly rose to the top of the nation’s prospects.
Drake had a favor to ask before the season started, but the school put together a more difficult schedule to highlight their top quarterback before his junior year. He was eager to play against Hough, as Beau continued to attend and he had made a lot of friends there before becoming the starting quarterback.
At first, Scott Chadwick, his coach, said no. Myers Park’s schedule was harsh enough as it was. Hough consistently ranked among the top five teams in the state. To include them would be absurd. But Maye insisted, and Myers Park went north to Hough for the fourth game of that season. Maye scored six touchdowns on passes. He made a run at another.
“It was video-game numbers,” Chadwick said. “I took him out at the start of the fourth quarter and he was mad at me. And I was like, ‘Dude, it’s 68-7.’”
According to national rankings, Myers Park was the best team in the state. Even though their starters were typically sitting out the fourth quarter, the Mustangs managed to average fifty points a game. During that season, Maye threw for 50 touchdowns against only two interceptions. A 2020 match between Trinity Christian High School, coached by Deion Sanders, and Myers Park was postponed due to the pandemic.
Maye was worried that colleges might not be interested in him when his recruiting began to pick up steam following his sophomore season. He was sure he would just move to Chapel Hill, just like his father and older brother had. However, UNC was going through a difficult phase. In 2017 the Tar Heels finished 3-9; in 2018, they finished 2-9.
Maye had seen two of his brothers take home national championships. He was also a winner. Thus, he instructed Chadwick to inform people that he was not attending UNC. Following that, numerous offers from prestigious universities arrived. Prior to his junior year, in July 2019, Maye choose Alabama over Ohio State and Clemson.
He talked over the phone with North Carolina’s just rehired coach Mack Brown the following day. Brown has known the Mayes for a very long time. When Mark was a graduate assistant at Brown in the late 1980s, he first got to know Aimee.
“We’re going to win,” Brown said he told Drake. “So you watch, and I want you not to give up on this and keep thinking about it.” Less than a year later, Drake called Brown back. He flipped his commitment to stay home and play at North Carolina.
“He called and said, ‘Coach, you’re so right. This is who I am. This is my place. This is my school,’” Brown said.
Although they are not permitted, college coaches are aware of the unofficial summer workouts that players organize on their own. The starting quarterback position for the Tar Heels was up for grabs in 2022 after Sam Howell left UNC. Brown personally invited the ten players he trusted the most into his office to inquire about the progress of the practices. He posed a straightforward query: “Who is your quarterback?”
“They all said Drake,” Brown said.
Maye broke all the school records. With 4,321 passing yards, he set a school record and tied a Tar Heels record with 38 touchdowns, and he topped the country in total offense (5,019 yards). As a redshirt freshman, he won the ACC Player of the Year award. Larger football programs circled after that, with new regulations on transfers and NIL deals in place.
“He was tampered (with) at the highest level,” Brown said.
Rumor had it that seven-figure offers were made to entice Maye to go on. So he went to talk with Brown at his office.
“He came in and he said, ‘Coach, listen. There’s a lot of rumors out there, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m not in it for money. I just want to play and play here,’” Brown said.
As companies flocked to Maye for his endorsement that season, he had another requirement. It was also necessary to add the offensive linemen if you wanted him for a NIL agreement.
The season of 2023 was not as successful. The Tar Heels modified their offensive strategy to emphasize ball running more. In addition to their primary receiver, Tez Walker, being ineligible to participate at the beginning of the season, the offensive line was not as strong. The losses accumulated.
That is the kind of situation that usually worries coaches. With draft status and perhaps millions of dollars on the line, can NFL-bound players still give it their best in largely meaningless games?
A few days after Thanksgiving, rival NC State was blowing out North Carolina at halftime and taking them out of the running for the conference championship. Nothing was operating. This was the moment, if ever there was one, to give up and begin considering the wider picture.
“But then I go see (Maye) at halftime, and he’s like, ‘Coach, I like this and this and let’s go back to this,’” said offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey. “He never had any inkling that he wasn’t going to compete all the way to the end. In fact, he tweaked his ankle a little bit, and trainers told me he was probably going to be out. And then he jogs back onto the field.”
Even at 6-4, Drake Maye (second from right) is the shortest of the four brothers. (Courtesy of Aimee Maye)
Last season, Maye used to sit at team dinners with Clyde Christensen, a consultant for Brown now, the night before games. As an offensive assistant, Christensen worked with Peyton Manning and the Colts for eleven years. He coached quarterbacks for Andrew Luck for four years and Tom Brady for three.
Maye would pester Christensen with a slew of questions every Friday night. How did Manning respond to this arrangement? How did Brady respond to this reporting? The last few weeks leading up to his first NFL training camp, Maye spent preparing with Christensen because he enjoyed the opportunity to pick his brain.
We have no idea how that will look in 2024. During training camp, Maye has participated in offensive plays with the second team. In four weeks, the Patriots will kick off the season with veteran journeyman quarterback Jacoby Brissett. However, the issue remains as to when Maye will take over.
Maye was informed by Christensen that Manning and Brady were special in ways other than their physical attributes. They wanted greater pressure and coaching. They were competitors in all they did. Drake possesses that, Christensen declared. “You have a terrific man who is loyal. That would be the symbol above all. Peyton and Tom possessed that. They have the qualities, but they were also nice men who wished to excel, receive coaching, put in a lot of effort, and see their friends win. And the Patriots just acquired that.
Before the draft, NFL organizations look into a prospect’s background to get a sense of him. The people closest to Maye presented a dismal picture. He likes to drive his truck. He enjoys watching sports and picking up hoops. He likes tossing the football around as well.”I was asked by one of the teams how he was going to manage being in a huge market and city,” Chadwick remarked. “And I say, ‘You are good if you have a Chick-fil-A.'” I promise that he will not be searching Google for the city’s top nightclubs.
“I’ve said often, I would adopt him — he’s that perfect a kid,” Brown said. “It sounds kind of corny, but it’s true. He dates his seventh-grade girlfriend, which is unusual. He’s not going to cuss, he’s not going to drink, he’s not going to be out — but he can lead a room.”
In June, Maye relocated into a new condo close to Gillette Stadium. After putting together some new furniture and realized he was out of screws, he became a little agitated and contacted his parents. He turns 22 on August 30. What is ahead is the NFL’s demands.
Maye knew they were coming. This is why, the night before the NFL Draft changed his life completely, he rented a court at the Detroit Athletic Center, which is located just across from Ford Field. He wanted to play one more pickup game after supper. All four of the lads were there. and a plethora of buddies. They played full-court basketball.
It could as well have been a summer night, because truck lights were shining on the driveway hoop. The following day, he would be chosen as the quarterback to revive an NFL dynasty. Still, he did spend one more evening with his siblings playing pickup hoops, with the youngest of the four proving he could keep up.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos courtesy of Aimee Maye, G Fiume / Getty Images, Aaron M. Sprecher / Associated Press)
