Darian Mensah knows that Miami's offense has the ability to reach another gear

Darian Mensah knows the Miami Hurricanes offense can do more and, like a good leader, he is taking much of the responsibility for the unit going into a deep freeze in the final 25 minutes against Wake Forest. 

Before that final stretch of futility, it looked like Miami was going to be able to name its score against the Demon Deacons, but after Malachi Toney and Mark Fletcher had to leave the game for stretches with injuries, everything started to fall apart.

The good news is that the Hurricanes still won 33-20 and the better news is that the offense has Mensah leading the charge to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Darian Mensah knows Miami's offense can do more

It's hard to fault Mensah for much of anything. The guy is at a couple of hundreds of a percentage point short of a 90% completion rate. That's ridiculous! He has more touchdowns (11) than incompletions (8) through three games. If someone is open, Mensah is getting them the football on time and in a position to make an explosive play. 

Getting them open is another story and one that Mensah addressed in his media availability by calling out two players that he believes can be difference makers in Miami's search to find established complementary pieces around Malachi Toney.

"I think there are a bunch of guys that could step up, but the two that come to mind are Dre Jacobs and Somourian Wingo. I think they're explosive playmakers, and they've got the opportunity, so it's their time to take advantage of it," he said.

There's a bit to unpack here, not so much as who he named — Wingo is a young player with a lot of upside and Jacobs has a proven history of production — but rather the omission of Cooper Barkate, who was positioned to be the No, 2 guy in the pass game. Barkate has gotten out of the gate a little slow (10 catches, 96 yards, TD) and far below his numbers over his career prior to arriving in Coral Gables.

That being said, no one can argue with Wingo's upside and Jacobs' production. The latter recorded over 30 catches and 500 yards at South Carolina last season, so the talent is there, and he's played in enough competitive environments between the SEC and Florida State that this shouldn't be a problem for him.

Week 4 provides another opportunity for Mensah and the offense to get better and leading this unit to maximum production is a challenge that he is taking personally.

"At the end of the day, it's a mental thing more than anything to be less physical than you were in the previous two quarters," he said. "I think that's on me to make sure that the guys are mentally prepared to be physically dominant."

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