Darian Mensah didn’t have to buy another meal in Durham again. He would’ve been loved forever. He would’ve been remembered forever.
Now, he will be remembered forever but for all the wrong reasons.
The former Duke football quarterback went from a program legend to arch villain in a month – near record time of any college athlete even in the transfer portal era.
Just four weeks ago Mensah posted a video on social media where he said, “let’s run this back,” after it was reported that he could be looking to enter the 2026 NFL Draft. Now, he’s in the transfer portal and likely heading to Miami to replace Carson Beck after the National Championship Game.
The video has been deleted off his social media pages and soon any image of him in a Duke uniform will vanish as well.
It’s a departure that’s much worse than Mike Elko, who left in the middle of the night for the head coaching job at Texas A&M. It’s a departure that’s a slap in the face to Manny Diaz, his teammates, and Duke fans.
But none of that matters for Mensah. He’s getting more money than most people can count to play one season of football in South Beach for a team coming off a title game appearance.
He won Duke an ACC Championship. He led a dramatic final drive to beat Clemson on the road. He had all the tools to be remembered as one of the best quarterbacks and players in program history and threw it all away for a massive payday from the Hurricanes.
None of those wins or accolades meant anything to him or for him. It was always about the money, which it is for many college players. And they shouldn’t be criticized for that, but it’s different when you jump into the transfer portal hours before it closes after already signing a two-year contract with a team.
It’s dirty. It’s slimy. It’s college athletics.
The Duke football program welcomed back Riley Leonard this season after his transfer from the Blue Devils to Notre Dame and still boasts Daniel Jones after his bounce back season in the NFL before injury.
It’s a program that values relationships and players, but Darian Mensah will be an asterisk in its history book. A great player but a disastrous ending.