Drake Maye explains what has gone wrong for North Carolina in recent weeks

The North Carolina Tar Heels are entering into Saturday’s ACC championship game on a high note. The Tar Heels are currently on a two-game losing streak after falling to NC State, followed by Georgia Tech. As experts around the country have tried to break down what is going wrong for North Carolina in recent weeks, starting quarterback Drake Maye attempted to explain their struggles in a recent press conference.

“Just being patient. State they were dropping eight, and Georgia Tech was doubling some guys,” said Maye. “I think we just check to the underneath guy, and that starts with me just being patient. Take those three, four-yard gains; those add up. And also, we still had some glimpses where we moved down the field pretty well, actually real well.

“We’ll find that groove. The talent has been there all year. Sometimes there’s some bumps in the road, but I got extreme confidence in our guys. It’s the same guys out there; so we’re still making plays. Every week teams approach you differently. So it just depends on how they approach these guys, and we’ll adjust to it in the game and move on from there.”

The adjustments NC State in Georgia Tech made were more than enough to get the redshirt freshman quarterback off balance in the last two games. After throwing 34 touchdowns to three interceptions in the Tar Heels’ first ten games, Maye has just one touchdown pass and two interceptions thrown in their two losses.

Maye named ACC Player of the Year

North Carolina redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Maye has been named the 2022 ACC Player of the Year.

Maye led the Tar Heels to a 9-3 regular season, clinching a Coastal Division title and is set to take on Clemson this weekend for the ACC Championship. Under Maye’s leadership, the legacy gunslinger led the country in individual total offense.

On the season, Maye has thrown for 3,847 yards and 35 touchdowns with 629 yards rushing and six more scores. Throughout the season, he was named ACC Player of the Week a conference-high six times along with being named the ACC Rookie of the Week five times.

He is just the ninth FBS quarterback since 2010 to post 3,500 passing yards, 35 passing TDs, 500 rushing yards, and five rushing TDs in a season.

Alongside his litany of ACC honors, Maye has also been named a semifinalist for Walter Camp National Player of the Year, the Davey O’Brien, Maxwell and Alexander Awards. He was added to the Manning Award Watch List, which recognizes college football’s top quarterback, and currently holds top-10 odds to win the Heisman Trophy.