Duke football starting quarterback Maalik Murphy has entered the transfer portal after one season with the Blue Devils. Murphy played his freshman season at Texas before transferring to Duke for his sophomore campaign where he had a lot of success.
Murphy started every game for the Blue Devils and seemingly found a home in Durham, making it a bit of a head-scratching move why he decided to transfer after one season with the program.
The sophomore finished his 2024 campaign with 2,933 yards, 26 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a 56.5 QBR while completing 60.3% of his passes. He started every game for Duke, leading the team to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Ole Miss.
Murphy will not play in the bowl game upon his transfer announcement.
Murphy also set the Duke football single-season passing touchdowns record that was previously set by Anthony Dilweg in 1988.
He looked the part of a future star in Durham at times but also had his fair share of struggles. It's a bit of a shock that Murphy decided to enter the portal after just one season with the Duke program given his development under Manny Diaz.
Murphy will now look for his third school in three collegiate seasons.
Upon the news of Murphy's transfer decision, the Blue Devils have been linked to one of the top quarterbacks in the transfer portal: Tulane's Darian Mensah.
As a redshirt freshman, Mensah started every game for the Green Wave, leading the program to a 9-4 record, a berth to the AAC Championship game, and a trip to the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl against the Florida Gators.
Mensah threw for 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions to go along with a 76.5 QBR on a 65.9% completion percentage.
Per On3, Mensah is the #2 quarterback in the transfer portal and the #17 overall player in the portal as well.
He was almost immediately linked to Duke after the news broke of Murphy's transfer and Mensah has already scheduled a visit to Durham. This is the first visit the redshirt freshman has scheduled.
Per his agents, Mensah is also receiving interest from other ACC and SEC programs, but Duke is the only visit currently scheduled for the transfer.
This would be a massive pickup for the program after the departure of a promising QB for the future in Murphy. With the college football transfer portal heating up, Diaz and the rest of his staff are beginning to get to work with hopes to land one of the top signal callers in the portal.