Alabama quarterback commit Drake Maye has reopened his recruitment and de-committed from the Crimson Tide and flipped to North Carolina. The four-star quarterback from Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park had been a UA pledge since July of 2019, but in recent weeks it became more and more evident that he was considering opening his recruitment back up as programs like the Tar Heels continued to press.

"First off I'd like to thank Coach Saban and the entire staff for the opportunity to play at The University of Alabama, but after sitting down with my family I have decided to de-commit from Alabama. With that being said, I'm looking forward to playing for Coach Brown at The University of North Carolina. He, along with Coach Longo and Coach Bly, have been tremendous throughout my recruiting process and I couldn't be more excited to become a Tar Heel! I'm Committed to The University of North Carolina! Go Heels"

Maye recently shed light on where things stood with his commitment in an interview with InsideCarolina.

"During [my] basketball season, I kind of let [my situation with Alabama] go," Maye told IC’s Don Callahan. "I'm just really now sitting down [and] thinking about it. I'll probably take a closer look at it. Down in Alabama, they have an important spring to see who earns the [starting quarterback] job. I'm firm [in my commitment] right now, but we'll see what happens.”

With Alabama flipping five-star quarterback Bryce Young to its 2020 class a couple of months after Maye committed, the addition under center was certainly something Maye took into consideration.

"I'll have to sit down [and] think about it with my family," Maye said. "Obviously, coming in there right after a freshman plays well [as a starter] is not a good idea [for me]. But, we'll see."

As mentioned above, programs like UNC, a school with strong family ties to the Maye family, has worked to flip the Top100 signal caller. The Tar Heels have only offered two quarterbacks in the 2021 cycle, one of which is Maye, with hopes to get him on board. Maye's father, Mark, played quarterback in Chapel Hill, and his older brother, Luke, starred on the basketball team.

"They're on the rise for sure," Maye told Callahan. "When I committed to Alabama, I didn't really know how North Carolina was going to be [under Mack Brown] -- I hadn't seen them play, yet. But, I think they proved a lot and they're waking some people up."

Alabama has offered a handful of other signal callers in the 2021 class. We’ll see in which direction the Tide will turn under center.

The Tide currently has one commitment in its 2021 class in four-star linebacker Deontae Lawson. Late last week, four-star cornerback Latrell McCutchin de-committed from Alabama during a visit to Oklahoma.

This story will be updated ...

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