Now that Darian Mensah is officially a member of the Miami Hurricanes and will be inserted as the starting quarterback of a loaded offense, it's no surprise that his odds of winning the Heisman Trophy have jumped significantly.
Mensah is now among several players that share the sixth-best odds at +1500 to win the award at FanDuel. Miami has not had a Heisman Trophy winner since Gino Torretta won the award in 1992.
Darian Mensah is as skilled of a passer and great young man to talk to with a great story as you will find in college football. 2026 he will be on a very good team with a great program. Has Heisman Trophy potential written all over it.@CanesFootball
— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) January 27, 2026
Texas' Arch Manning and Notre Dame's CJ Carr are the early favorites at +750. Mensah is in a group that includes Georgia's Gunnar Stockton, LSU's Sam Leavitt and Oregon's Dante Moore. New Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover is at +1000.
Darian Mensah will enter the 2026 season among the Heisman favorites
Truthfully speaking, Mensah probably did enough this past season with Duke to receive some Heisman votes, but with the Blue Devils losing five games, that was not going to be the case. But no one can deny Mensah's value and impact on the team that went on to win the 2025 ACC Championship game. Now that he's with a team that made the CFP Championship Game, the expectations have been raised.
Mensah threw for 3,973 yards, which was second-best in the nation and tops among Power 4 programs, and 34 touchdowns, which was tied for second-best in college football.
Now Mensah walks into an offense that's absolutely stacked. Cooper Barkate, his favorite wide receiver with the Blue Devils, will join him at Miami and be part of a crazy wide receiver room that has Malachi Toney, Vandrevius Jacobs and Cam Vaughn in it. Those four receivers combined for nearly 3,400 yards and 25 touchdowns this past season.
The Hurricanes' offense also returns the entire running back room, with 1,000-yard rusher Mark Fletcher Jr. leading the way. If there are any concerns about the Miami offense, it would be how quickly five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell locks down a starting spot as a true freshman and how Mensah will be able to keep everyone happy. But these are good problems to have.
Mensah isn't the only Hurricanes that on the early Heisman list. Toney is grouped with the next tier of contenders at +2700.