Drake Maye’s MVP season has put him in the spotlight, but it doesn’t faze him: ‘He doesn’t have an arrogant bone in his body’

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  1. From [Globe.com](http://Globe.com)

    By Nicole Yang

    FOXBOROUGH ― Earlier this season, amid his team’s stretch of three straight road games, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye decided to stop by Xaverian on a Friday night to check out some high school football.

    [Maye had heard the matchup was going to be a juicy one](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/17/sports/classic-xaverian-finally-is-able-beat-no-1-catholic-memorial-kick-time-expires/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link), with Xaverian, the two-time defending Division 1 state champion, hosting longtime foe Catholic Memorial, the reigning Division 2 state champion. So, he figured, why not go and see for himself?

    “Just trying to support,” he said. “It brings me back to those days when I was playing.”

    Maye, accompanied by his wife, Ann Michael, ended up venturing down to the field, creating quite a stir among the ogling fans. He took in some of the action from the sideline, where he also fist-bumped and posed for selfies with several eager teenagers. He even stopped to chat with a small group of younger kids, asking them about their own football season.

    On his way out, Maye smiled and waved to those in the bleachers chanting, “M-V-P!”

    As the Patriots have returned to prominence and Super Bowl contention, the buzz surrounding their second-year quarterback has skyrocketed.

    Seemingly overnight, the 23-year-old Maye has become one of the faces of the NFL. When the league announced its top Pro Bowl vote-getters among fans, Maye was far and away No. 1. His rising popularity will only continue to surge [if he wins the league’s MVP award](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/02/sports/patriots-giants/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link), which would be a deserving honor to cap his spectacular Year 2 leap.

    The success on the field has come with a heightened spotlight.

    It hardly seems to faze Maye, who has never been a glutton for attention.

    “He doesn’t have an arrogant bone in his body,” said Mack Brown, who coached Maye for three seasons at the University of North Carolina.

    When Maye won the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year award following his breakout college season in 2022, school officials wanted to print his name on the stadium’s wall of award winners. But Maye asked that they hold off. According to Brown, he didn’t want to take away from his teammates who helped him earn the honor.

    In 2023, when a local HVAC company reached out to Maye with an NIL deal, he agreed on the condition that his four starting offensive linemen be included, as well. The fivesome then appeared together in [television commercials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVQmSzSbU04) and radio spots throughout the season.

    Later that year, ahead of the team’s final home game, Brown encouraged Maye to participate in the senior day ceremony. Brown, knowing the game would be Maye’s last in Chapel Hill, wanted him to receive a proper ovation from the Kenan Stadium crowd. But Maye declined, in an effort to keep the focus on the seniors.

    “He’s an unbelievable person,” Brown said. “I’ve said often, I would adopt him. He’s that perfect of a kid. It sounds kind of corny, but it’s true.”

  2. When he gets the MVP trophy I wonder who he will say they were actually trying to give it to when they handed it to him.

  4. I don’t think he cares about MVP at all, he’s spent his whole life just wanting to win against his older brothers, best the bigger name teams in college and now in the NFL is just focused on winning. Not focused on stats or recognition and fame. MVP would be cool, I am sure he knows that, but this kid seems like he’s focused on playing well and the team winning.

  7. I figure for him to win MVP he’ll have to beat at least one of the two upcoming big games (Buffalo or Baltimore)
    Having a bad game against “real” competition and hurting teams chance for #1 seed will lose him votes.
    Conversely if he plays well and wins one (or both, definitely doable) team will get #1 seed and he’ll be MVP.

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