This week, Tar Heel quarterback commit Drake Maye is competing in Nashville in the Elite 11 Finals. Maye is looking to become the first Tar Heel commit to win Elite 11 MVP honors in the event’s history and close in on that elusive fifth star. This is the official thread of the week where we’ll keep updated on Drake Maye’s progress.
Day 1: Monday
The start of Monday’s action got delayed by weather and the day for Drake Maye was a bit of a struggle, as well. According to multiple sources who were in attendance, Maye was never really able to get into a groove, struggling with some short and intermediate throws throughout the evening. The good news for Maye is that he still has two days to turn his fortunes around and he isn’t the only top-rated quarterback that struggled on night No. 1.
Day 2: Tuesday
After a slow start to the week on Monday that left him out of the top 11, Maye roared to life and made a statement on Tuesday night, posting a very strong score of 40 out of a possible 60 in the mock pro day throwing session. Those struggles that he reportedly had last night with the short and intermediate throws were not much of an issue on Tuesday night, as he did a good job of leading his receivers, allowing him to establish a nice rhythm. Maye shined with the deep throws, dropping in some nice throws that definitely made a nice impression on the Elite 11 staff and is where he scored the best on the night. Maye would finish with a nice window throw over the bags in the endzone to complete an overall strong showing. Both Trent Dilfer and Jordan Palmer were both thoroughly impressed by what they saw from Maye in Day 2 all while he was dealing with the wind that the second group faced. His scored finished up as the second-highest mark among all of the quarterbacks that went through the drill, ranking behind only Kyle McCord. I would fully expect to see Maye among the top 11 when the rankings go public on Wednesday morning. Watch his full workout below, just skip ahead to the 27:42 mark.
Day 3: Wednesday
With everything going on with COVID-19, the final day saw a major change to the process. Normally, this is the 7-on-7 tournament portion of the week, which is used to showcase how the skills used in the first two days translate with a defense on the other side of the football. Instead, the group spent the final day with a timed drill called the Target Challenge. Maye made a lot of strong throws from the pocket, showing good footwork and accuracy. Where he did struggle a little was with the on-the-run throws, an area where he will need to show improvement when he arrives on campus next year. Even with the struggles on the run, he still finished with the eighth-best time of the 20 quarterbacks that participated in the drill. The video of his workout is below, just fast-forward to the 4:41 mark. Maye entered the day as one of the top 11, but a lot of the players below him had good days while a lot of the players above him struggled. In my opinion, Maye's last two days should be enough to sneak him into the Final 11, but it's far from a guarantee at the point, especially after Caleb Williams somehow won MVP after struggling in the final two days.
Overall: While it was definitely a slow start to the week for him, Maye bounced back nicely with a great performance on Tuesday. Wednesday wasn’t the cleanest performance, but was still a very solid effort in an unorthodox final day. Combine that with his strong junior film and it’s no shock that he has been named member of the ElIte 11. Maye gives the Tar Heels their third straight Elite 11 quarterback, as he joins current Tar Heel quarterbacks Sam Howell (2018) and Jacolby Criswell (2019) in receiving the honor.
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