WATCH: Throwback video of Patriots QB Drake Maye flexing his hoops skills during high school days

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye

Former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye was selected No. 3 overall in the NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. A throwback video of Maye flexing his basketball skills was shared on X by ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III, establishing the rookie QB as a bona fide two-sport star.

During his junior year at Myers Park High School, Charlotte, Drake Maye averaged 16.1 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists (as per MaxPreps) before switching his focus to football, where he opted for early enrollment at North Carolina in 2021 and foregoing his senior year.


Drake Maye has rich basketball history

Former North Carolina Tar Heels offensive coordinator Phil Longo spoke to 247Sports about his approach to scouting Drake Maye during his high school career when he attended a basketball game that the quarterback was involved in.

“Dre Bly and I went to see Drake play basketball, and it was 52 to 7 at the half. I picked the worst possible game to go watch," Longo said. "And I won't embarrass the high school by talking about who it was, but it was really bad. Drake didn’t play in the second half. And he drained just about everything he shot. I might as well just go and watch the warm-up, really. But I did watch him play. I know he's very good."

Basketball runs in the Maye family. The quarterback's older brother, Luke Maye, is a veritable legend in Chapel Hill after nailing a buzzer-beater against the Kentucky Wildcats in the 2017 Elite Eight game, which sent the Tar Heels to the Final Four.

North Carolina won the national championship that year, and Luke Maye played a huge part in the win. His other older brother, Beau, played in the 2022-2023 North Carolina basketball team as a walk-on.

Longo revealed that he believed Drake Maye's basketball talent was such that he could have played at an elite level had he chosen to go that route instead of focusing solely on football.

In an in-house North Carolina Tar Heels interview, Maye explained how his basketball skills helped him become a better quarterback.

"You're always on the move in basketball, which definitely translates to football with the ball in your hands, just a different ball," Maye said. "... A lot of times in basketball, I like to get to my right hand. In football, sometimes you're flushed, you go to the left side and you got turned across the body a little bit, which makes it a little different, but most of the time you're going right and I think when you're going around the pocket to the right, it definitely helped."

Drake Maye is one of the elite two-way student-athletes playing at the pinnacle of the game, joining names like Deion Sanders, who specialized in baseball and football during his heyday.

Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh
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