1/12/2023 football Edit

Maye Named FWAA Freshman Of The Year

UNC QB Drake Maye has been named the top freshman in the nation by the Football Writers Association of America. (USA Today)

UNC Athletics & Communications

CHAPEL HILL – University of North Carolina QB Drake Maye has been named Freshman Player of the Year presented by Chris Doering Mortgage, the Football Writers Association of America announced on Thursday. A redshirt freshman, Maye was also named a member of the FWAA Freshman All-America team. He has already claimed ACC Player of the Year and the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Year award.

In addition to those honors, Maye earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year. He is only the second player in the conference’s history to sweep all four individual league honors, joining Jameis Winston, who did it in 2013, and is only the second freshman to be named Player of the Year in ACC history.

Maye completed 342-of-517 passes (66.2%) for 4,321 yards and 38 TDs, while rushing for 698 yards and seven TDs during the 2022 campaign. He is just the sixth QB since 2010 to post 4,000 pass yards, 35 pass TDs, 650 rush yards, and seven rush TDs in a season. The others are Kyler Murray (2018), DeShaun Watson (2015, '16), Marcus Mariota (2014), Johnny Manziel (2013) and Robert Griffin III (2011). Each one of those players either won the Heisman Trophy or finished as the runner-up.

A Huntersville, N.C. native, Maye finished the year second nationally in total offense (358.5), sixth in passing yards per game (308.6) and tied for fifth in passing TDs (38). He tied for third nationally and ranked second in the Power 5 with 45 total touchdowns (38 pass, 7 rush) and 272 points accounted for in 2022.

Maye averaged 308.6 yards passing per game and led the team with 698 yards rushing. The last two QBs who averaged over 300 passing yards per game, while leading their team in rushing were Patrick Mahomes in 2016 and Johnny Manziel in 2013.

Maye has already etched his name into UNC’s record books. He set UNC’s single-season record for passing yards with 4,321, eclipsing Mitch Trubisky’s previous mark of 3,748. His 4,204 career passing yards already rank 10th all-time at Carolina. Maye tied Sam Howell’s single-season record with 38 TD passes, and set new single-season marks in completions (342) and attempts (517). His 157.9 passer rating is tied for fifth on UNC’s single-season list, while his 66.2 completion percentage mark ranks sixth.