NFL Draft-bound UNC quarterback Drake Maye will forego the Mayo Bowl.
When the North Carolina Tar Heels play the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on December 27, they will be without their starting quarterback and 2022 ACC Player of the Year, Drake Maye.
Maye, who is expected to be a top-five pick in the NFL Draft in April of next year, decided not to attend the bowl game on Monday in order to concentrate on his draft preparation.
On Monday night, he uploaded a long statement to his X account.
Maye expressed gratitude to Mack Brown, other North Carolina coaches, God, his friends and family, and the supporters in his statement.
Even though Maye was mainly used as a backup in 2021, his three seasons at Chapel Hill will live on in the annals of history. With 8,018 passing yards, including 4,321 in 2022, he ranks fifth all-time among UNC starting quarterbacks. He is the first quarterback in Tar Heel history to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a single season.
With 63 passing touchdowns, Maye ranks fourth in school history. In 2022, he tied Sam Howell’s single-season record with 38 touchdown passes. Maye would almost certainly be no lower than the second-highest all-time, behind only Howell’s 92, had he received starting reps all three years.
It has become commonplace for elite athletes to skip bowl games in order to concentrate on the NFL Draft, and Maye is no exception. In the last week, quarterbacks Sam Hartman of Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Caleb Williams of USC Trojans both made the decision to skip their teams’ bowl games.
