Welter: Why a game of ping pong made Drake Maye the starting QB at UNC

By Pat Welter

There's a line in the movie "Dodgeball", "if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball." The character Patches O'Houlihan probably believes if you can play ping pong you can play quarterback at UNC. Redshirt freshman Drake Maye hasn't even started a game yet, but the legend of his ping pong prowess has already grown.

"On a recruiting weekend when [Maye] was hosting," Offensive coordinator Phil Longo remembered. "We are at coach Brown's house and he was there to host and help us recruit, but he could not get away from the ping pong table. And he's competing and sweating all over coach's floor. He's working on serves, he just lost it.  He could not get away and back to recruiting at that point."

It's a funny story, but it says a lot.

"Just win the table," Maye laughed when asked about Longo's ping pong story. "I think it's one of the worst things in sports is having to watch someone else play."

So did a game of ping pong decide Carolina's QB competition? No, but I'd argue the mindset did. No one at UNC is saying Jacolby Criswell isn't competitive, but sweating profusely over a game of ping pong indicates that Maye might just be "built different" as the kids say on social media.

"Everything he does, he's ultra competitive and that's how he plays the game of football, and that's what you want," Longo said.

Competing daily with Criswell was a familiar feeling for Maye. He grew up in a house with three brothers including former UNC basketball star Luke Maye. His father Mark was Carolina's starting quarterback in 1986 and 1987.

"You know sports has been a big part of our family," Maye said. "It all comes back to the end of the day just competing."

Every UNC fan and media member I've talked to since this quarterback battle began in the spring thought Maye would win the job. I didn't think it was so clear cut. Criswell had one more year of experience, he started the Wofford game last year when Sam Howell was hurt (even if he split the game reps with Maye), and Criswell had the slightly stronger arm and better athleticism. In a QB competition that was sold by Mack Brown and the players as neck in neck the whole way, I thought experience and athleticism might break the tie.  The coaches said throughout camp that the players would make the decision for them, but ultimately it still ended up being an incredibly difficult choice.

"Picking a starter between these two is like choosing between my nine year old daughter and my eleven year old daughter. It's hard to do," Longo said.

Mack Brown didn't give a reason for why he chose Maye over Criswell simply saying they felt Maye earned the right to play first. I asked several UNC players what they thought broke the tie.

"Probably consistency," UNC starting running back D.J. Jones said. "I'm not sure what Longo's head was, but I think from what I've seen Drake's been a little more consistent."

"Drake was just making really good plays a few days in a row," junior receiver Josh Downs said. "That might have been the difference."

Maye has won the job, but the battle is far from over.

"I didn't say that Jacolby will not play," Brown said Monday. "If one quarterback is not moving the ball we'll put the other one in."

If Maye's ping pong acumen is any indication, once he gets the ball he's not giving it back.

"Whether it's ping pong or whatever it is," Maye said. "Just giving that paddle up is, there's just something about that feeling that's hard to live with."