Every time a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from 1-10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
MORE STING FACTOR: Latrell McCutchin's decommitment from Alabama
THE SITUATION
North Carolina coach Mack Brown flipped Sam Howell from Florida State. And now he’s flipped quarterback Drake Maye from Alabama as the 68-year-old coach continues to build a winner in Chapel Hill again.
The four-star quarterback from Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park committed to Alabama in July and it was a major pledge for the Crimson Tide’s early 2021 class. Maye is a big, sturdy pro-style quarterback who put up huge numbers in his junior season and it looked like Alabama had gotten a special prospect to commit early on.
But North Carolina never gave up, continued to pursue the in-state prospect who’s ranked as the eighth-best pro-style quarterback in the class and he had been taking semi-regular trips to the Chapel Hill campus. His brother, Luke, played basketball for the Tar Heels and those family connections go a long way.
So might Howell’s success. The North Carolina quarterback threw for 3,641 yards with 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions as he became one of the best players in the ACC.
Rarely, does a player flip from Alabama. North Carolina was on the winning end of that this time with Maye.
LOCAL REACTION
Alabama lost its second commitment in less than a week as quarterback Drake Maye flipped to North Carolina. Maye committed to Alabama last July prior to Bryce Young flipping from USC to the Crimson Tide. Mack Brown has done a great job of landing top in-state players and gets a big one in Maye. Alabama will pursue other options as it will likely add a quarterback in the 2021 class. Young may be the future for the Crimson Tide, but he has still yet to take a snap. It’s tough for Alabama to lose a highly coveted recruit, but long-term the Tide should be just fine after signing the top quarterback in the 2020 class. - Andrew Bone, BamaInsider.com
Sting factor: 4
NATIONAL REACTION
This one stings a bit. We all know Alabama will be fine with Bryce Young and the Crimson Tide will land an elite quarterback but losing a talented kid like this hurts. It’s better that it’s not to an SEC foe like when Jake Fromm flipped from Alabama to Georgia a few years back but it still hurts.
Sting factor: 7
