No. 45 Drake Maye flips commitment from Crimson Tide to Tar Heels

ESPN 300 quarterback Drake Maye flipped his commitment from Alabamato North Carolinaon Friday.

Maye is the No. 45-ranked prospect overall in the 2021 class and the No. 4-ranked recruit in the state of North Carolina. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound quarterback committed to Alabama in July 2019, but announced his decision to switch to the Tar Heels and play for coach Mack Brown.

Maye is the No. 9-ranked pocket-passing quarterback in the class and is the third ESPN 300 quarterback Brown has landed since rejoining North Carolina as head coach. In his first recruiting class as head coach, Brown flipped Sam Howell from Florida State.

Howell started as a freshman for the Tar Heels in the 2019 season and threw for 3,641 yards and 38 touchdowns in his debut.

The staff landed ESPN 300 dual-threat quarterback Jacolby Criswell in the 2020 class and now Maye in 2021. It's another important get for Brown not just because he's a top-ranked quarterback, or that he was able to flip a quarterback from Alabama, but also that Maye is one of the top-ranked in-state recruits.

Brown has made it a point to try to keep the top local prospects in the state and has started to see more success in those elite recruits staying home.

Maye is now the fifth ESPN 300 recruit from North Carolina to commit to the Tar Heels in this 2020 class, including five-star defensive end Keeshawn Silver, who committed earlier in the week. Silver was the second five-star recruit from North Carolina to commit to Brown in the past two classes, joining defensive end Desmond Evans who signed in 2020.

Maye is the brother of former UNC basketball standout Luke Maye, and the son of former Tar Heels quarterback Mark Maye.