Army veteran takes us inside Drake Maye's Super Bowl surprise
BOSTON -- New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is on his way from the Pro Bowl to the Super Bowl this week. He won't be playing in the big game, but the 22-year-old will be rendezvousing with a special guest.
Two weeks ago, Army veteran Matt Jabaut received a huge surprise. As the unsuspecting sergeant was being interviewed about the American Legion in Lewiston, Maine, he received a tap on the shoulder.
"Drake Maye grabbed me on the shoulder, and it took me a minute to put the context together of the face and the space," Jabaut told Nick Giovanni of WBZ-TV Sports. "Then I realized, 'Oh, wow! This is really happening right now.'"
It was a moment the lifelong Patriots fan never saw coming. And that was before Maye broke out a pair of tickets to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans for Jabaut, courtesy of USAA and the NFL.
"Just the idea of meeting him and that kind of stuff, it was kind of really, really cool and enough at the moment," recalled Jabaut, who served seven years as an Army medic and was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq. "And then when he pulled out two Super Bowl tickets, I was just kind of overwhelmed from that perspective to kind of be recognized and to have that kind of opportunity to go do a bucket list kind of thing like that."
Spending time with Drake Maye
After the Patriots quarterback gave Jabaut the two tickets, Jabaut gave Maye a tour of the post.
"He's just a really good guy," Jabaut said of Maye. "The whole time he was appreciative, enjoyed the moment, enjoyed seeing the history."
Maye then left another impression on Jabaut as the two got to play a game of catch outside.
"He took it easy on me at first, until I think he realized I could throw a little bit and catch a little bit. The last couple, he zipped a couple at the end to me," said Jabuat. "That kind of caught me off guard. I needed a little adjustment there on a couple of them."
"But we didn't let the ball hit the ground, which is the important thing," added Jabuat.
Sgt. Jabaut plans to take his fiancée, Caroline (who served in the Navy) with him to Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. But he'll reunite with Maye again in New Orleans at the USAA Salute to Service Lounge.
