The UNC football team is off to a 5-0 start, its best since the 1997 campaign when it finished 11-1.
There’s seemingly a new unit that shines each week – the running game in Weeks 1 and 2, defense in Weeks 1, 3, 4 and 5, plus quarterback Drake Maye in Carolina’s last three outings.
The latter picked up two recognitions, being named to the Davey O’Brien Great 8 list and a Manning Award Star, for his absolute obliteration of the Syracuse defense in a 40-7 Tar Heel victory. Maye completed 33 passes for 442 yards and three touchdowns – one each to Bryson Nesbit, John Copenhaver and Kobe Paysour – with his yardage total just six yards off his collegiate career-high.
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Maye was joined on the Great 8 list by a couple of gunslingers you might recognize – LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, UGA’s Carson Beck and a former ACC quarterback – Oregon State’s D.J. Uiagalelei. The Davey O’Brien Award is given annually, at the college football season’s conclusion, to the nation’s top quarterback.
Maye also found himself on the Manning Award list with Daniels, Gabriel and Beck. The Manning Award is similar to the Davey O’Brien Award, except the winner doesn’t get announced until the conclusion of Bowl Season.
Is there anything Maye can’t do? He can destroy a defense with his rocket arm and precision, or evade defenders by juking them out and taking off for the open field.
Maye and his Tar Heel teammates have an even tougher test on Saturday, Oct. 14, welcoming the Miami Hurricanes to town for a primetime matchup on ABC.
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