Chip Lindsey reveals what's surprised him about Drake Maye

Chip Lindsey know he was getting a fantastic quarterback in Drake Maye when he signed on to be North Carolina’s offensive coordinator, but there’s still a bevy of things that surprised him.

Speaking with the media as the duo prepares for the 2023 season, Lindsey revealed what exactly the surprises were, including Maye’s football smarts.

“I think the thing that probably I didn’t know before is he’s really intelligent. He’s really smart. Football smart. His football IQ is really high,” responded Lindsey. “I mean, he does well in school. He’s got a great GPA and all that, but he understands every aspect of offense. From offensive line play, to who should be working to who in zone schemes, to who we’re working to in pass sets. In pass protections, he’s able to change the protection. That’s something that he’s taken to really quickly, and they did some of that before too. But I think that would be the thing, I mean not knowing him from the outside, you see the talent.

“You see the physical skills. That hadn’t surprised me a bit. But getting here and realizing he’s a football junkie. He understands football. He loves it, and very, very intelligent player.”

Meanwhile, there’s still things that Lindsey wants Maye to work on that come straight from his mind, although the offensive coordinator recognizes that the North Carolina quarterback has a pretty good handle on everything already.

“When you play that position, the team, they respond to you,” added Lindsey. “So your body language, your energy, your attitude always needs to be good. You’ve got to be a guy that can bring people with you and lead them, and he has that natural ability. I think, he’s only really been the starter here for one year, and I wasn’t here last year, but when he became that starter, he probably earned that by the way he approached every day in practice. Then he went out and played well on top of it, so now he’s got credibility, right? Now when he says something, those guys listen. I’ve seen him interact with our players, all the positions, they look him in the eye when he’s talking to them. I think that he’s got natural leadership ability.

“Things that I want him to know, from a standpoint of leading our offense, is just to be confident. Be positive. Be able to correct guys without demeaning them and down-playing them. I think he does a great job of mixing that. There’s a time to really get after someone, and there’s a time when to encourage, and I think he’s got a really good knack of being able to do that.”

Drake Maye has a fantastic shot at the 2023 Heisman Trophy, and many NFL teams will have their eye on him ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft. Chip Lindsey will attempt to cultivate the best quarterback play he can out of the Tar Heels star, and his signal-caller is built for the ride.