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CHAPEL HILL – Just two starts into his college football career, Drake Maye is quickly gaining a reputation as a quarterback who can make just about every throw.

Some are next-level throws.

That doesn’t necessarily mean NFL plays, instead, they are passes that are eye-popping and wowing. In baseball parlance, massive long home runs are called “Ruthian” shots, so perhaps crazy-sick passes that shake the heads of all who see them can become Maye-like around Chapel Hill.

Seriously, it’s catching on.

“I actually saw that in fall (camp),” true freshman running back George Pettaway said Tuesday at the Kenan Football Center. “He made a couple of throws, I was watching it and wasn’t in at the time, and I’m like, ‘he can go.’”

Example?

“We had a night practice, and he made defender miss and he got outside of the pocket,” Pettaway recalled. “But he was moving to his left, and he just cross-body and no-looked it 30 yards downfield right on the money.”

That was practice, but Maye has done this in the games, too. Perhaps the pass that stood out the most was the dart he threw to tight end Bryson Nesbit just before halftime in the wild win at Appalachian State last weekend.

It capped a last-minute drive and displayed his numerous skills. UNC offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Phil Longo said Maye “ripped” the throw, and more.

“That was an impressive throw,” Longo said during his Monday weekly press conference. “Some of his ball-placement stuff has been really good. There’s been a couple of balls that we had, that I think if you’re not working on and not schooled on how to throw the deep ball stuff, you just hang that stuff up and let the receiver go run for it.”

The 10-yard pass from Maye to Nesbit put Carolina ahead, 28-21, at halftime. Earlier in the game, however, Maye hooked up with J.J. Jones for a 23-yard scoring connection, and that may have been an even higher-level throw. And catch.

Maye isn’t one to focus on his positives nor publicly dwell on them. But even he acknowledged the pass to Jones and a 36-yarder to Gavin Blackwell in the third quarter that set up another UNC score.

“Maybe the one to Gavin in the post, that was a pretty good throw,” Maye acknowledged. “And I think J.J. went up and made it look like a good throw. I try put it in the best spot I can for them, and it’s their job to go up and get it.”

Longo noted both throws as well, getting into the nitty gritty about ball placement, touch, and the nuances to completing tough passes downfield.

The strike Maye threw to Nesbit was in the middle of the field. The other two were more downfield and contested.

“The first one was the opener to J.J. Jones that needs to be a two-ball or a high-laser shot, and it’s gotta be inside, and we like it to be a little bit higher,” Longo said. “And he put both of them where they needed to be and both were completed, and I think that had a lot to do with ball placement.”

Sam Howell spent the last three years setting every passing record and others in Carolina history. A marksman and football gym rat, Howell was known for ball placement and connecting with his guys on the field.

But he is barely six feet tall, Maye is nearly 6-foot-5, and as a former basketball player, is athletic, cagey, and his vision is praised all around the Kenan Football Center. And probably by FAMU’s and App State’s defenders now, too.

His mind is also QB-centric. The combination is nearly perfect for a player who can hit on next-level throws each week.

“I think seeing how the receiver goes up and gets it, where they like it, and where they’re best getting it,” Maye said. “I think Bryson, being a taller guy, he goes up to get it – put it higher up. Coach Longo always empathizes putting it in the box, cross-the-middle stuff so we’re not over-stretching guys and tipped balls and stuff…

“I think just knowing your receiver and keep building where they like it.”

Knowing the defense, sensing the movement, knowing his receivers, sensing the moment, and having an uncanny skillset to simply make stuff happen is what Maye has displayed through the first two games.

Next-level throws are his thing, and may be a regular part of the Tar Heels’ attack moving forward.