North Carolina QB Drake Maye shuts down rumors he was offered $5 million to transfer

No, North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye wasn’t offered a $5 million NIL deal to transfer away from the Tar Heels.

Maye shut down those rumors, one of which was pushed by Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi, on Thursday. He’s staying with North Carolina.

"Those rumors weren't really reality," Maye told ESPN's Pete Thamel. "Pitt's coach ended up putting that out there. I don't know what that was about. You have to enter the transfer portal to talk to these schools and hear these offers. For me, I think college football is going to turn into a mess. They're going to have to do something. There was nothing to me or my family directly offered from any of these other schools. Nothing was said or offered to the Mayes."

Maye was the target of several transfer rumors after his breakout season this fall. He threw for 4,115 yards and 35 touchdowns with just seven interceptions as a redshirt freshman. Maye helped lead the Tar Heels to the ACC championship game, too, and has undoubtedly made himself a top quarterback available in the 2024 NFL draft.

One such rumor claimed that Maye was offered a significant amount of money from other schools in NIL deals, though nothing specific was revealed. Narduzzi claimed earlier this week that Maye was offered $5 million by two different schools to transfer, but he wouldn’t say who the schools were.

That, however, just wasn’t the case.

"Some people were texting my high school coach about it," Maye said, via ESPN. "That's mainly what happened, people reached out to some of my representatives and NIL media people."

Still, it’s more than any possible money for Maye.

Both of his parents went to school at North Carolina, and he lives with his brother, Beau — who walked on to the basketball team. Their older brother, Luke, plated basketball for the Tar Heels, too, and hit a buzzer-beater to send them to the Final Four in 2017.

"It wouldn't sit right, especially with all my family..." he said of transferring, via ESPN. "Switching it up after everything the Mayes went through wouldn't represent what the university means to me or how much it means for me to go there. It'd mess up the mojo and all we've built there. That Carolina blue is special. There's no other color in the world that meaningful."