Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers almost landed a top quarterback several years ago.
Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers have definitely had their fair share of terrific quarterbacks over they years. Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, Cade Klubnik. The list goes on.
But back in 2020, Clemson almost landed one of the top college quarterbacks in recent memory: Drake Maye.
Maye had initially committed to Alabama back in 2019, but he then flipped his commitment to North Carolina in 2020.
Prior to all of that occurring, however, Maye had the Tigers listed as a finalist, Maye's high school coach, Scott Chadwick, revealed during a recent appearance on the Ovies & Giglio podcast. But Maye ultimately spurned Clemson because it already had DJ Uiagalelei on board.
“His three finalists were Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson," Chadwick said. "And the reason he ended up [committing to] Alabama was Ohio State took an early commitment from a kid in his class, Kyle McCord. Clemson had just taken a commitment from DJ."
Uiagalelei was a five-star prospect at the time, so it appeared as though the Tigers had landed an elite signal-caller to replace Lawrence, who would go on to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images.Obviously, things did not exactly work out for Uiagalelei, who spent three years at Clemson before transferring to Oregon State. He then moved on to Florida State for a disastrous final collegiate campaign in 2024.
Things certainly would have been a heck of a lot different for the Tigers if they landed Maye, who could have ultimately paved the way for Klubnik.
Maye spent three seasons at North Carolina before eventually being selected by the New England Patriots with the third overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Now in his second NFL campaign, Maye has the Patriots in the Super Bowl and is one of the leading candidates for the MVP award.
The 23-year-old threw for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing 72 percent of his passes and posting a 113.5 passer rating in 2025, pacing the NFL in the latter two categories.
And to think that Maye almost took his talents to Clemson. Had it not been for Uiagalelei, he very well may have.
That's a tough pill to swallow.
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