You get what you pay for. The Miami Hurricanes ponied up a healthy heaping of cash to get former Duke Blue Devils and Tulane Green Wave quarterback Darian Mensah to transfer over to them. After leading Duke to an ACC championship during his lone year in Durham, can Mensah be the one to lead the Canes to the promised land? Carson Beck got them on the doorstep, but can Mensah punch it in?
Miami fans should be pleasantly surprised with where Mensah finds himself on J.D. Pickell's latest list.
- Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore
- Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss
- Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah
- Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin
- Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr
- Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton
- Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Josh Hoover
- USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava
- Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer
Pickell also had LSU Tigers transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt listed as an honorable mention as well...
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For all intents and purposes, Mensah should be seen as a top-10 quarterback in college football after spring practice. How many other quarterbacks in the country have led a program to a Power Four championship before? While being No. 3 behind only Oregon's Dante Moore and Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss may be questionably high for Mensah, it just goes to show he was worth it in NIL money.
As long as Mensah plays like a top-10 quarterback in the fall, Miami can have another special season.
Darian Mensah must live up to the hype during his first season with Miami
With Miami going on a deeper run than expected in last year's playoff, it really had Mario Cristobal and his staff up against it when it came to the transfer portal. Beck was about to run out of eligibility, while one marquee name after another that hit the portal ended up signing with somebody else. This includes Leavitt and Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover, who also made this list. Mensah topped both...
With Shannon Dawson back for another season as Miami's rockstar offensive coordinator, look for him to make things even easier for Mensah in year one at Coral Gables. Not only does he get to throw the ball to Malachi Toney and hand it off to Mark Fletcher Jr. in the backfield, but his favorite target at Duke in wideout Cooper Barkate signed up to join the Hurricanes' cause this offseason via the portal.
Frankly, this is the price of doing business if you are Miami. There is plenty of money to go around, and the Hurricanes never seem to be afraid of being big spenders. For a team that will have serious national championship aspirations, Mensah can show this bunch a thing or two about something no Miami player has ever done. That would be winning the ACC... Together, they can achieve greatness!
Mensah has a chance to be as good as Beck, and potentially even better than Ward, was with Miami.
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