Drake Maye provides his initial assessment of his first career collegiate start

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye starred in his first career start against Florida A&M Saturday, and has solidified himself as the guy in Carolina moving forward. The Tar Heels legacy addressed his dazzling performance following the first of what the Carolina fanbase hopes to be many highlight reel showings.

“I was a little anxious and I get nervous before every game regardless of who it is. So it felt good to be out there with the guys,” Maye said. “I think y’all can see we’ve got a lot of talent, just need to it put together… There were some first-game jitters. I just kind of told myself that I’ve been practicing a year and a half for this. All this work I’ve done, it’s gonna pay off. Just trust the process and trust my teammates.”

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That anxiousness didn’t last long, as Maye has rewrote Carolina record books already. He became the first UNC quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in his first career start, as well as becoming the first UNC quarterback to throw for five touchdowns in a season-opening game.

Maye completed 29-of-37 passes for 294 yards and five touchdowns mid-way through the fourth quarter, adding another 55 yards rushing after a huge run to begin the game offensively. After building a comfortable 56-24 lead in the fourth quarter, Maye did not return to the field for the remainder of the quarter.

“It was fun out there. I thought that the crowd had a good turnout. It felt good playing with the guys out there for our first game,” he said. “It took us a little while after the first drive to get it going, but I though we did a nice job, got the win and got to win on coach’s birthday.”

Maye now has a chance to duplicate this performance on Sept. 3 against a bit stiffer competition against Appalachian State, which is set for noon ET live on ESPNU.