Drake Maye's college journey included key flip from Alabama's Nick Saban to UNC

To reach NFL stardom, Drake Maye first had to shine in college football.

For a while, it looked like he would do that for Nick Saban at Alabama.

Maye was first committed to Saban, but he eventually changed course, ending up with Mack Brown at the University of North Carolina.

It was a key step in his journey that has taken him into the NFL MVP contention in his second season with the New England Patriots.

Maye is a North Carolina kid, having grown up in Myers Park, outside of Charlotte.

He initially chose 'Bama, because who wouldn't? That would've been quite the opportunity, and in retrospect, Maye clearly had the stuff to make it with the Crimson Tide.

Instead, though, he flipped.

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Why did Drake Maye change college commitment from Alabama to UNC?

It came down to the hiring of Mack Brown.

Maye wasn't as interested in the Tar Heels prior to that, but when the legendary Brown came on board, that made all the difference.

“Obviously the big thing was just seeing Coach Brown come back. I think one of the first few weeks, I was telling a reporter earlier, coach Brown and coach Bly came by Myers Park like maybe a week or two after coach Brown got hired and they just came by to see me,” Maye told On3 Sports when he was in college. “And then even with me being committed to Alabama, they kept recruiting me, they made me a priority.”

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The appeal of the home-state school added to it for Maye, too. His brother Luke had starred for UNC's basketball team.

“Didn’t want to miss out on the home state, my brother Beau was applying here, he got it, so a lot of things kind of played into it and obviously my parents always wanted me to go here," Maye said. "But they kind of tried to let me enjoy the process, but my mom and my dad they’re huge Heels fans so it just kind of worked out, kind of meant to be."

The journey appears to have gone exactly how it was meant to.

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