Mack Brown on Drake Maye's Heisman chances: 'I can't believe his name's not being mentioned'
Following North Carolina‘s victory over Duke on Saturday, Mack Brown decided to campaign a bit for Drake Maye to receive some more Heisman buzz.
Maye was incredible during UNC’s 47-45 win over the Blue Devils. The quarterback went 28-43 (65.1%) for 342 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in the rivalry win over the weekend. He also rushed for a pair of scores to give him three total in the outing.
Afterwards, Brown threw Maye’s name into the Heisman conversation, waxing poetic about his superstar quarterback.
“We talk about (the) Heisman Trophy, I can’t believe his names not being mentioned,” Brown stated. “It’s probably because we lost two games. But when you look at the drives the other night, those were Heisman drives. That’s what everybody — you have to have clear-cut things that separate you as a quarterback from others, and he’s that guy. I mean, we’re seeing things that we thought with Sam [Howell], that we thought we’d never see again. We’re seeing things with Drake that we thought we’d never see again. We’ve got to have that next guy, to step up and do this. But I was just amazed at some of the plays he made the other night.
“The pitch with the left hand at Pittsburgh. I mean, where does that stuff come from? And you don’t see it in practice, because you’re not hitting him. Then he dove Saturday. I think he did that to make me mad, because he hadn’t done it since last year, when he did his dive over in the end zone.”
Moreover, Maye’s gaudy numbers included his one touchdown pass with under two to go to give his team the lead back and then a drive to put them in position for the tying field goal at the end of the fourth. It also featured one of his rushing scores and a conversion on the two-point attempt in double overtime to push Duke out of reach.
In a season full of phenomenal quarterbacks, Maye certainly makes a case as one of the best. Even so, Brown takes it further as he and his team are certain that they have the QB1 above all other QB1s this year as well as one of the best that he has ever had in his coaching career.
“I think he’s as good as anybody I’ve ever been around. It’s unbelievable,” Brown said. “I said that to the team in there. We have the best quarterback in the country. He is unbelievable.”
It remains to be seen if Drake Maye gets any Heisman buzz, but he’d certainly have Mack Brown’s vote moving forward.