FOXBOROUGH – Drake Maye had his eyes on Jared Wilson all along.
After committing to North Carolina in the summer of 2019, Maye attempted to help the Tar Heels’ coaching staff by reaching out to fellow recruits. In 2020, the quarterback reached out to Wilson.
It worked – for a minute.
That April, Wilson committed and would enter the same class at Maye. However, nearly five months later, the offensive lineman decommitted and opted to go to Georgia instead.
“Yeah, I texted him trying to get him to North Carolina. He was a big-time recruit out of (North Carolina),” Maye told MassLive. “He was like an hour away from me, right outside Greensboro. Just tried to get him to come to North Carolina, and we had him for a little bit. And then he flipped to Georgia. At the end of the day, I don’t blame him.”
For Maye and Wilson, it all came full circle this offseason when the Patriots drafted the offensive lineman in the third round. This season, the rookie has started at left guard for the Patriots.
Years after trying to recruit Wilson to play with him in college, Maye was thrilled when he saw the Patriots added the North Carolina native to the team.
“I texted him right after,” Maye said. “I said, ‘Finally, I get to play with you.’ It was pretty cool.”
Wilson was caught up in the afterglow of the draft when his phone started to buzz. He forgot about the time he committed to UNC to join Maye. Then he looked down and saw that the quarterback reached out.
“He texted me probably an hour after I got drafted,” Wilson said. “The first person who contacted me was Mo (Morgan Moses). And he was like, ‘Congratulations’ and all that. Then, I realized Drake texted me. It didn’t really register yet because I was just excited to be somewhere. I was like, ‘Whoa. Wow. Drake’s the quarterback. That’s cool.’ It just came full circle. Small world.”
Maye went to high school at Myers Park in Charlotte. He developed into a 4-star recruit and opted to stay in-state after decommitting from Alabama. Wilson grew up in Clemmons and went to West Forsyth High School, which is about an hour and 40 minutes from Maye’s hometown.
The quarterback never met Wilson, but the two knew about each other since they were both standouts in the state of North Carolina.
Wilson said that Maye first reached out to him via Snapchat in 2020. When he arrived in Foxboro, he noted that the quarterback gave him some grief for not joining the Tar Heels five years ago, but in the end, it worked out like they originally planned.
“Now, he’s doing a great job and playing hard,” Maye said. “I think he’s going to continue to get better and better with him and Will (Campbell) and Garrett (Bradbury).
“He’s such a positive guy,” Wilson said of Maye. “He puts a lot on himself. He takes a lot of blame, which he shouldn’t at all. It’s not all him when something goes wrong. It’s just great looking back there, you’ve got a guy that comes into the huddle, he’s confident in the call, his demeanor makes you confident in the quarterback. It makes you want to block for him that much more.”
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