Three days have passed since Week 4 of the college football season ended, but people are STILL talking about UNC quarterback Drake Maye’s left-handed touchdown throw against Pitt on Saturday night.
With Carolina barely ahead of the Panthers late in the second quarter (21-17), but driving for another score, Maye decided to keep the ball on a read option. Pitt defenders moved in on Maye, likely sacking him for a drive-killing play.
What UNC’s star quarterback did next was something you’d see from the likes of Kansas City Chiefs start Patrick Mahomes. Maye switched the ball into his left hand, fired it to a waiting Bryson Nesbit in the end zone, who then caught it for a miraculous touchdown.
Hey @PatrickMahomes,
Thoughts on @DrakeMaye2's lefty touchdown throw? pic.twitter.com/ZhbSAqUYgK
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) September 24, 2023
Maye’s throw caught the attention of the entire college football world, but more importantly, it still has his head coach, Mack Brown and his top Week 4 receiver, J.J. Jones, buzzing.
“The play that Drake made with his left hand is maybe the best play I’ve ever seen in college football,” Brown said in the UNC-Pitt postgame press conference, according to Chapelboro’s Michael Koh. “It was unbelievable. I sat there and looked at it, and I wanted to run it back, and then I looked up at the Jumbotron. I told him at that time, ‘Win the game, and it’ll be number one on SportsCenter. I think it would’ve been number one either way. I was shocked. I’ve never even seen him do that. And he just acts like he does it all the time. He is really a good player.”
“I was on the other side of the field, and I looked up and I saw him throw it, but I saw his left hand in the air,” Jones said, also according to Koh. “So something seemed odd. But then I watched the replay and I stood there like, ‘That’s gonna be SportsCenter Top 10.’ Drake makes plays like that all the time in practice. For some people it looks crazy, but for us, that’s just who he is.”
After two average weeks to start the season by a Heisman Trophy contender’s standards, Maye has really picked up his game in the Tar Heels’ past two games. The redshirt sophomore tore Minnesota apart for a season-high 414 passing yards and two touchdowns, then nearly reached the 300-yard mark and added three total scores against Pitt.
Maye’s next test will be in two weeks, when UNC hosts Syracuse on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 3:30 p.m. in its ACC home opener.
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