Mensah earning as much as Diaz? Putting in perspective this new world of college athletics

Early on in the transfer portal, Duke football made a big splash after losing 2024 starting quarterback Maalik Murphy as the team sealed a commitment from Tulane redshirt freshman transfer quarterback Darian Mensah.

Mensah will have three years of eligibility remaining and is the #5 quarterback in the portal according to On3.

It was a huge get for Manny Diaz and the rest of the staff after Duke lost its previous starter in Murphy in what looked like a decision not many outside the program were expecting. Not only did they sign Mensah, but he committed to Duke the day after his visit.

Obviously in today's NIL era, millions of dollars were involved in Mensah's commitment. But the numbers were recently reported, and if accurate, Mensah was reported to be earning $8 million over the next two seasons with Duke.

This might make Mensah the highest-paid player in college football history. With such a highly touted name in the portal, it makes sense Mensah was demanding big bucks, but how much is the market continuously growing year by year?

Mensah was a three-star recruit out of high school receiving little to no Division I attention. After redshirting his freshman season at Tulane, he was originally listed third on the depth chart entering his second season with the Green Wave. But, he impressed in training camp and ended up starting every game.

Mensah threw for 2,723 yards to go along with 22 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He led the Green Wave to an AAC Championship game berth and a spot in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl against Florida.

With his age and clear talent, he was deemed one of the most valuable players in the portal and demanded serious money. Clearly, Duke had no problem paying it.

Per CBS Sports writers John Talty and Chris Hummer, "A $4 million annual salary would put Mensah on par or higher than nine base salaries of Power Four head coaches in 2024, according to USA Today's coaching salary database. That includes Big 12-winning Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham, Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea and the recently-fired West Virginia coach Neal Brown."

To put it in perspective within the Duke program, head coach Diaz has an annual salary of $4 million. We are now in a landscape of college football where players make more than the coach.

Do I think this is wrong? Absolutely not. I think it makes perfect sense that Duke's quarterback for the next two to three seasons makes the same as the head coach. All of the success and all of the potential failure will likely fall on Diaz and Mensah on a similar level.

Mensah is expected to come into Durham and lead this program at the top of the ACC for the time he is there. If a Duke program that is trying to transcend generates the money to pay a top quarterback millions to get him to play for them, all the best.

The money also keeps exploding year after year. Talty and Hummer also put into context just how much the money keeps sky-rocketing.

"A year ago, the going rate for a top-of-the-market quarterback like Cam Ward, who went from Washington State to Miami, or Riley Leonard, who left Duke for Notre Dame, was a little less than half that."

In just a year, highly coveted quarterbacks are already making double at the top of the market. And with new settlements and revenue shares inbound around the NCAA, these teams have money to spend. It's a market that will just keep rising.