Mack Brown urging Drake Maye to slide, avoid putting himself in danger

North Carolina survived a scary moment in a comfortable 41-10 win over Virginia Tech over the weekend when quarterback Drake Maye did not slide or simply run out of bounds at the end of a carry in the red zone midway through the third quarter, instead trying to hurdle a defender.

He paid for it.

As Hokies linebacker Keli Lawson lunged forward for the hit just inside the 10-yard line, Maye skied over the top, only to be met by defensive back Nasir Peoples, who had peeled off a tight end to finish off the play. Maye, fully extended, came down hard on his forearm and the football.

“He’s not going to score, so why leap?” coach Mack Brown wondered aloud this week. “He got the breath knocked out of him, so he was fine. But we need to quit doing that.”

That’s something North Carolina’s coaches have been stressing to Maye since he took over the starting job for the departed Sam Howell.

He’s so eager to make things happen he sometimes fails to realize his importance to the team.

“We’ve talked to him a whole lot and he just needs to listen,” Brown said. “He’s trying to slide better. He is trying to step out of bounds better, but even sometimes throw the ball away. Don’t hold it so long trying to make a play that you take a hit.”

Urging Drake Maye to slide about protecting UNC

Make no mistake about it, Brown loves the enthusiasm from his freshman quarterback. He’d just like him to play a bit smarter.

“I told him he’s too important to our team not to take care of himself better,” Brown said. “And there will be times, if it’s fourth-and-1, if you’re on the goal line and you’ve got to score to win the game, I got it. Go for it, man. But take a third-and-2 and step out of bounds. Don’t leap.”

It’s not something entirely unique to Maye, who is the team’s second-leading rusher this fall with 255 yards and three touchdowns on 52 carries.

In fact, Howell, Brown’s stellar gunslinger the last few years, also had issues playing safe and avoiding reckless hits early in his career.

“Sam wouldn’t even think about stepping out of bounds or sliding when we first got here, and it took about two years,” Brown recalled “We’ve just got to keep working with Drake.”

Family makeup part of Maye’s competitive fire

There are a couple things that play into Maye’s desire to make things happen on every play.

First, he’s got three brothers. His older brother, Luke Maye, was a star basketball player for the Tar Heels. Another brother, Cole Maye, won a national title as a pitcher with the Florida Gators. The third, Beau Maye, is currently enrolled at UNC.

“You’ve got to love his competitiveness, his nature,” Brown said. “That’s growing up with a bunch of boys in the house, he had to fight and compete. And he feels like he’s competing and I got it, he just needs to do a better job taking care of himself.”

Then there’s the thing all high school quarterbacks contend as they get to the next level.

“Mostly quarterbacks are so competitive that’s why they’re so good at what they do, and we’ve had problems with all of them,” Brown said. “In high school a lot of times they don’t slide because they’re big and strong enough they can run over people and it’s hard to teach them to slide because you get them hurt. So it’s just something you have to work through. But just about every great quarterback we’ve had has had the same issues early.”

Maye ended up fine after that hit on the sidelines against Virginia Tech. He may not be so lucky again in the future, though.

That’s why Brown is staying on him about playing smart.

“You know, if he was not hustling or it was something to hurt our team; he thinks he’s competing and helping our team, so that’s a really hard thing for him to understand,” Brown said. “And I got it, I’m totally with him. I just want him healthy. So we’ll just keep talking to him.”