Super Bowl 60: Drake Maye’s college coach says QB’s whole life has built toward this moment

Lamar Jackson will reportedly miss 6-9 weeks

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Super Bowl 60: Drake Maye’s college coach says QB’s whole life has built toward this moment

Matt Vautour · MassLive

Sun, Feb 8, 2026 ·

6 min read

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Mack Brown told them what was going to happen.

The North Carolina football coach knew that the scouts and personnel directors would probably dismiss his comments. But he said it anyway.

“When they would come through in the spring before the draft, I said Drake Maye is gonna win the Super Bowl,” Brown said. “I don’t know when. He’s gotta get the right teams. Gotta stay healthy. Gotta have good players around him. Good coaches, but he’s gonna win the Super Bowl. That’s who he is.”

He noted their reaction.

“Then they would all look at me like a typical college coach pushing his kid,” he said.

Brown has a chance to be proven right awfully quickly.

Drake Maye, who started for him for two years at North Carolina, could be the youngest Super Bowl winner in history if the Patriots beat the Seahawks on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

Maye is young, but Brown doesn’t doubt his readiness. He was young when he won ACC Player of the Year to go with National Freshman of the Year honors in 2022. He was young when he was drafted third overall by the Patriots in 2024. Young in the Super Bowl? That’s just next.

“I think he had the perfect upbringing for this moment,” Brown said.

The Maye family’s athletic prowess is well documented. His mother, a good high school basketball player, married his dad, who played quarterback at UNC and briefly in the NFL, and had four standout sons.

Luke and Beau Maye played basketball for the North Carolina, where Luke won an NCAA Championship. Cole Maye won an NCAA baseball title at Florida.

Brown thought their success steeled Maye for this moment in a couple of ways.

The most obvious was that it made him competitive.

“He’s been around these guys and competing like it was the Super Bowl every day, and the younger brother was always getting beaten up,” Brown said.

But living in a house where so much success had been modeled for him, championships weren’t the subject of daydreams, but the natural result of preparation. Brown saw a kid who expected to succeed.

“I really believe this and I’ve thought a lot about this,” Brown said. “He has prepared for this game his whole life. He prepared to be the quarterback at North Carolina as a kid. That’s what he thought he was going be. So it wasn’t overwhelming for him to walk out there as a redshirt freshman and throw for five touchdowns in his first game.

“He prepares for the Super Bowl. He’s played this game in his backyard with his brothers,” Brown said. “He’s already envisioned this.”

Maye showed promise as a rookie last year despite the chaos swirling around him in Jerod Mayo ’s only year as New England ’s head coach.

Under new coach Mike Vrabel, Maye took a huge leap in year 2 and finished second in the MVP race and has the Patriots on the brink of another banner.

“This has been a great combination. Coach Vrabel done a great job and it looks like (offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels and Drake have a tremendous relationship,” Brown said. “It’s all fallen into place, so I’m not surprised at all.”

If Maye does win Sunday, Brown was confident that even Super Bowl success won’t change his former quarterback.

Major award winners in the Carolina football program have those recognitions displayed in Kenan Memorial Stadium. Brown was eager to tell Maye. Maye’s reaction was unexpected.

“The first thing he says is, ‘Coach, we can’t do that till I get through’,” Brown said. “He said, ‘I don’t want my name out there and in front of all the other players. They had as much to do with this as I did’.”

It was a trend. After that freshman season, rumors popped up that some richer schools planned to offer Maye big NIL money to transfer. So when Maye asked Brown to talk, the veteran coach saw the writing on the wall.

Or so he thought.

“When he walks in and says, ‘Can I talk to you?’ I’m thinking, ‘I don’t know this ain’t good brother,’” Brown said. ”He says, “There’s a lot of rumors out there. I’m not going anywhere. I came here to play for you. I’m loyal. I’m staying so don’t worry about it.’”

An appreciative Brown offered to try to get Maye more NIL money, but Maye was more interested in getting better.

“He said, ‘Let’s get somebody that can help me with my feet. Sometimes I don’t get settled in the pocket and I drift into pressure and I’ve gotta learn to do that better. And I’d like to have somebody work with my throwing motion.’”

Carolina hired Chip Lindsey, who helped turn Jarrett Stidham into an NFL quarterback at Auburn, to be the offensive coordinator. Clyde Christensen, who worked with Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck with the Colts and Tom Brady with the Buccaneers, came aboard to tutor Maye as an offensive analyst.

Now Maye is on his way to being the latest star on Christensen’s resume.

Brown will be watching from his home in Austin, Texas. With Chazz Surratt , who played for him at UNC and Quandre Diggs (practice squad), who played for him at Texas on the Seahawks, Brown isn’t rooting for either team, just his former players to play well.

"I just texted with Chazz," Brown said. “I said, ‘Be careful. I know you’re supposed to knock Drake out, but let’s be good here.’ It’s hard to pull for both of them when they’re both in the game playing against each other.”

Brown’s sons and grandchildren will be at his house for the game. Brown said their loyalties might not be split.

“They all love Drake so much,” he said. “My family schedules their day around watching Drake play.”

Maye’s family operates under the same scheduling challenges, but most of them will be in California. Plus, the game could change the brotherly bragging rights.

“The two brothers with national championship rings always throw those in his face every time he does something good. They hold a ring up. You haven’t got one of these. Come on, little brother,” Brown said, laughing. “This will be a chance on Sunday for him to get that big ring. And that ring will be bigger than theirs.”

Just like he predicted.

Lamar Jackson will reportedly miss 6-9 weeks

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