Drake Maye

Early life

Maye was born on August 30, 2002, in Huntersville, North Carolina. He attended William A. Hough High School in Cornelius, North Carolina, and transferred after his freshman year to Myers Park High School in Charlotte, where he played football and basketball. He has three brothers, who also played football. Two of his brothers, Luke and Cole, won national championships playing collegiate sports.

Drake Maye and his brothers were competitive with each other. As a junior in high school, he received All-Conference and All-District honors in basketball and was named The Charlotte Observer's 2019 male athlete of the year after throwing for a school-record 3,512 yards and 50 touchdowns en route to a conference championship appearance. Maye was named a Under Armour All-American in 2020 despite being unable to play his senior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rated a four-star prospect, Maye committed to play college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide in July 2019 before flipping to North Carolina in Chapel Hill in March 2020.

Maye grew up a fan of the Carolina Panthers and attended Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium.

College career

As a redshirt in his freshman season for the North Carolina Tar Heels, Maye appeared in four games behind starter Sam Howell in 2021. With Howell leaving for the NFL in 2022, Maye was named the starter prior to the season. In the opening game against Florida A&M, he threw five touchdowns and became the first UNC quarterback to do so in his debut. Maye had four or more touchdowns in games against Appalachian State, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest. He led the team to appearances in the 2022 ACC Championship Game and Holiday Bowl and was named the ACC Player of the Year after leading the NCAA in total offense with 5,019, passing for school-records 4,321 yards and 38 touchdowns while rushing for 698 yards and 7 touchdowns.

In the 2023 season, Maye threw for over 400 yards against Syracuse, Miami, and Campbell University. He was named second-team All-ACC after passing for 3,608 yards and 24 touchdowns while rushing for 449 yards and nine touchdowns. He declared for the 2024 NFL draft following the season. He finished his career fifth in passing yards (8,018) and fourth in passing touchdowns (63) in UNC history.

Personal life

Maye is the youngest of four brothers: Luke and Beau played basketball at UNC, with the former shooting a buzzer beater in the Elite Eight en route to winning the 2017 national championship. Another brother, Cole, was a pitcher on the Florida Gators baseball team which won the 2017 College World Series.

Drake grew up family friends with quarterback Mason Rudolph, as their fathers played together at UNC. Drake's father Mark played quarterback at North Carolina (UNC) in the 1980s prior to playing briefly with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks. Drake Maye is good friends with Sam Howell, who preceded him as starting quarterback at UNC.

On June 22, 2025, Maye and Ann Michael Hudson married. They began dating in 2015 and announced their engagement in January 2025. Hudson and Maye also attended UNC together, where Hudson's younger brother, Tad backed up Maye as one of the backup quarterbacks on the Tar Heels for 2023.

Maye is a Christian. He has said, “I think the biggest thing is using my platform to spread the Word and spread the Good News.” He has also stated that he's not "200% sure" that the moon landing actually happened.