Competitiveness Complements Character: Story Of Patriots’ Drake Maye

Drake Maye has been known to thread the needle in more ways than one.

Scott Chadwick, Maye's football coach at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, knows that as well as anyone. Maye is the type of guy you want your daughter to marry, he says. Yet, somehow, the New England Patriots rookie quarterback handles himself on the football field like an assassin in an action movie.

"That's Drake," Chadwick said.

NESN.com spoke with Chadwick, Scott Taylor, Maye's high school basketball coach at Myers Park, as well as members of the North Carolina Tar Heels staff, including head football coach Mack Brown, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and senior advisor Clyde Christensen, about New England's next franchise quarterback.

They all shared similar sentiments as Chadwick. They love his leadership, competitive nature, and coachability -- all the things that drive Maye's opponents nuts.

Chadwick can still recall one of the first times he heard about Maye. The Myers Park Mustangs were set to face nearby Hough High in a 2017 North Carolina High School Athletic Association state quarterfinals matchup. Maye was Hough's second-string quarterback behind a junior signal-caller.

"A lot of coaches in the area told me, 'Hey, whatever you do, don't knock the junior out because the freshman they have is better,'" Chadwick said. "They said, 'You want to play against that kid and not the freshman they've got.'"

The Maye family was viewed as North Carolina royalty, similar to the Mannings in New Orleans and the Gronkowskis in Buffalo. Drake is the youngest of the four Maye boys, behind Luke, Cole and Beau, and he followed in their footsteps.

"He came with a lot of hype, no question," Chadwick said.

Chadwick's first chance to work with Maye actually came following the QB's freshman season. The coach ran a quarterback academy with former NFL signal-caller and current Minnesota Vikings assistant Josh McCown where Maye was a pupil. It didn't take long for Chadwick to see Maye's hype was legitimate.

Chadwick quickly formed a relationship with the Maye family. When it became clear Hough intended to start the rising senior for another season, Chadwick's relationship with the Mayes made Myers Park an ideal landing spot. Drake and his father, Mark, moved to the Myers Park side of Charlotte ahead of his sophomore year.

Chadwick and the Mustangs staff made Maye earn the starting job as a sophomore transfer, especially since they had their own rising senior on the depth chart. But it was clear Maye would take over. He finally did in late July when Myers Park went away for camp.

Maye played two high school seasons under Chadwick, his sophomore and junior campaigns. His senior season, a season where Myers Park had two nationally televised ESPN games on its schedule, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a disappointing lost opportunity for the coach-QB duo. Chadwick had a front-row seat when Maye threw 50 touchdowns and just three interceptions during his junior year. Maye completed 72.4% of his passes while Myers Park solidified itself as the top program in the state.

Chadwick saw Maye as an unrivaled competitor behind center. As a sophomore, Maye struggled in their only regular-season loss, throwing three of his five picks in defeat against Butler. Given a chance at revenge in the playoffs, Maye promised his teammates it wouldn't happen again. He threw four touchdowns in a 33-8 playoff win the night after Thanksgiving.

Then, a year later, it was Maye who encouraged Chadwick to schedule Hough, giving him a shot at his former team. Chadwick obliged, and Myers Park filled an opening in its non-conference schedule with a Hough team that ranked top 10 in the state. Maye went off for seven touchdowns, throwing for six and running in another before leaving with a 68-7 Myers Park lead. The Mustangs, who averaged averaged 50 points that season, won 68-21.

That will to compete extended beyond the gridiron. Maye took no mercy on his high school basketball teammates in "NBA 2K" on Xbox, never losing and making sure his name and record were reflected on the team board, Taylor said.

Taylor also reflected on the times Myers Park went on the road and Drake heard chants like 'Stick to football!' and 'Luke is better!" -- a reference to Drake's oldest brother, Luke, a national champion and hero at North Carolina after his game-winning bucket lifted the Tar Heels over the Kentucky Wildcats and to the Final Four in March 2017. Drake, the 6-foot-5 sophomore forward, would typically respond by converting an early bucket and shushing the crowd. Taylor also chuckled when he mentioned the time Maye heard chatter from a player on an opposing team. Maye responded by listing off that player's offer sheet, which was filled with Division II schools and programs that didn't hold a candle to the ones Maye heard from.

"Competition is fun to him," Taylor said. "I think that's when I see him smile the brightest."

I think that's when I see him smile the brightest.

Scott Taylor, Drake Maye's high school basketball coach

One moment that stands out most to Taylor, though, was during Maye's sophomore season. Myers Park traveled to Northwest Guilford for a playoff game. When the Mustangs held a two-possession lead in the final minute, Taylor figured he would call a timeout to run a good play. Before he could, however, Maye grabbed a rebound, ran down the court in transition and pulled up for a 3-pointer. Maye then stole the ball on Northwest Guilford's next possession, dunked it and hung on the rim as the buzzer sounded.

"For me, that's the one I'll probably always remember," Taylor said.

Taylor said Maye considered playing college basketball and had interest from a handful of ACC schools, including Virginia, Clemson and Notre Dame. Brown, the Tar Heels football coach, said Maye could have been North Carolina's sixth man.

The legendary college football coach was happy to have Maye on his own squad, even if the QB's fiery nature cost the program a ping-pong paddle or two. Maye's competitiveness was on display in some signature Carolina wins against Duke his sophomore and junior seasons -- Maye led the Tar Heels on game-winning drives in those contests.

Maye's fire doesn't just burn on the biggest stage. Brown recalled a time he walked into the Tar Heels' players lounge to a broken ping-pong paddle. The visibly distraught Maye stood there after he went up against North Carolina tight end John Copenhaver.

'The tight end beat me!" Maye told Brown. "The tight end beat me! Can you imagine?!"

Lindsey recalled the midweek accuracy contests he held between Maye and the Tar Heels quarterbacks. Lindsey planned to cancel that target practice one time to concentrate on individual drills. Maye, though, pushed back.

"That was a big part of the week for him," Lindsey said.

Christensen, meanwhile, worked with Maye during the 2023 season and ahead of the NFL draft. However, he's known the Maye family for a long time given his relationship with Drake's dad, Mark. Tagging along for a family golf trip, Christensen got even more insight into what makes Maye tick.

"Probably one of my fondest stories would be one time I golfed with him and his brother," Christensen said. "His brother had a four-and-a-half incher, and Drake made him putt it out. 'Don't pick that up, you got to putt that out!' And it was probably under six inches.

"He just has a playfulness, he loves to compete," Christensen said.

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That maniacal desire to compete might be why many find it hard to believe in the 'aw shucks' demeanor that comes with Maye's southern drawl.

But those who know him know that's how Maye threads the needle.

"He's got a unique character and ability to have a humility that carries with him, while also having a competitive nature," Taylor said. "I hope it's appreciated and seen. Because he is tenacious in how he works and how he approaches it, but there's a true sense of gratitude and humility towards everybody around him.

"That is not fabricated in any way. That is truly him, and it's unique. It's really unique."

The 72-year-old Brown, a veteran football coach of 46 years, said he wished Maye was part of his family. Brown told the Patriots he wouldn't want to have anyone else.

"I would adopt him," Brown said. "He's that perfect of a kid. It sounds kind of corny, but it's true."

I would adopt him. He's that perfect of a kid.

North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown

Many credited Drake's parents, Mark and Aimee, both college athletes themselves, for instilling the right values in the four Maye boys. They have a healthy relationship with competition and can maintain a level of respect, humbleness and humility.

Taylor recalled when Maye joined the basketball team his sophomore and junior seasons. It came when the Mustangs were three or four games into the season, a product of the football team's extended playoff runs. Maye, Taylor said, didn't want to disrupt what Myers Park had going, and didn't want to overshadow the hoopers who spent the offseason on the hardwood.

"He was willing to do whatever it meant, come off the bench, take a little bit of a lesser role offensively, almost so as not to upset the guys that had been putting in the time and effort," Taylor said. "He was genuine with it."

Maye instead did the overlooked work. He'd make the extra pass, set screens and get rebounds for his teammates. He did the work of a role player despite having star talent. That was until his Mustangs teammates and coaches encouraged him to start playing to his full potential.

Lindsey, who took the offensive coordinator job at North Carolina after Maye's standout sophomore season, said one of the first things that stood out to him was Maye's humility. Entering his pivotal junior campaign, Maye told Lindsey he wanted to be coached and critiqued. It was a sentiment that doesn't always come from someone named the ACC Player of the Year the season prior.

"Sometimes you don't find that with these big-time players," Lindsey said.

Maye's sincerity has always stood out to Chadwick, too. Instead of rambling about his life-changing achievement and excitement, Maye in their first call after the Patriots drafted him, spent the first 10 minutes of their conversation asking his former coach about his current team's offseason.

During the pre-draft process, Chadwick was contacted by an NFL team. The team, which Chadwick didn't reveal, asked if Maye was similar to the Eddie Haskell character in "Leave It To Beaver." He pushed back.

"That is so far from the truth," Chadwick relayed. "He is completely one of the finest kids -- I call him a kid -- but he's one of the finest kids I've ever been around."

Christensen said he learned more about Maye's character when he watched him communicate with his North Carolina teammates. Christensen praised Maye for how he married positive reinforcement with constructive criticism. Christensen, who served as Tom Brady's quarterback coach in Tampa Bay before joining the Tar Heels staff, even said it was one of the traits Maye has in common with Brady.

"I don't think that's a small characteristic to share with Tom," Christensen said.

Those who know him know it's just another example of Maye threading the needle.