The Miami Hurricanes clearly want to sign Darian Mensah as their quarterback for the 2026 season. Mensah has requested to be entered into the transfer portal, and he has a 100% crystal ball per 247 to The U. But as our own Rob Weaver told us, Duke was granted a restraining order which has paused […]
The Miami Hurricanes clearly want to sign DarianMensah as their quarterback for the 2026 season. Mensah has requested to be entered into the transfer portal, and he has a 100% crystal ball per 247 to The U. But as our own Rob Weaver told us, Duke was granted a restraining order which has paused Mensah’s entrance into the portal, for now.
From what I’ve been able to decipher (not a lawyer) it’s not that the Duke Blue Devils can keep Mensah from transferring, he has the right to choose where to go to school, but what they can do is prevent him from accepting any other NIL licensing deals while withholding their NIL license payment to him.
If Mensah can’t collect NIL from Miami, and if Duke doesn’t have to pay him out, this is a moot point and he needs to stay in Durham, NC. This will be a sticky situation for any judge involved in the case as it will set major precedent on NIL contracts in North Carolina and the U.S. as well.
Mensah, a four-star transfer prospect and former three-star prep, has previously played for the Tulane Green Wave as well as for Duke. Mensah redshirted under WillieFritz (now at Houston), and played for Jon Sumrall (now at Florida) before transferring to Duke to play for MannyDiaz. If the California native does make it to Coral Gables, MarioCristobal would be his fourth head coach and third program in four seasons of college football.
Mensah guided the Blue Devils to win the ACC Championship while beating UVA on two TD’s and one INT on 76% passing. Duke then won the Sun Bowl over Arizona State with Mensah tossing four TD’s on one INT over KennyDillingham’s Sun Devils.
Mensah put up really damn good numbers at Tulane in ‘24. He threw 22 TD’s with only six INT’s on 9.5 yards per attempt. In ‘25 at Duke, Mensah threw 34 TD’s with just six INT’s again on 7.9 yards per attempt. Mensah has scored twice on the ground in two years.
As an aside- if you want to complain about the state of college football don’t blame the players, look no further than the coaches. When Mensah signed with Tulane in ‘23 Diaz was the DC at Penn State, Fritz was the head coach at Tulane, and Sumrall was the head coach at Troy. To quote Snoop Dogg, “You gotta get yours, but fool, I gotta get mine.”
The other QB’s in contention are current ‘Canes passers LukeNickel and JuddAnderson, and a pair of potential portal QB’s in ParkerNavarro and KatinHouser. We know plenty about Nickel and Anderson as Miami fans, but what about Navarro and Houser?
Parker Navarro
Parker Navarro is a former three-star prep prospect and is currently a three-star transfer that’s undecided in his portal process. Navarro transferred from UCF to Ohio and quickly made a name for himself as the Bobcats QB. Navarro became the starter in ‘24 and threw 13 TD’s and 11 INT’s on 66% passing. He also scored 18 times on the ground as as dual threat QB.
In ‘25, Navarro threw 14 TD’s on 11 INT’s while completing 62% of his passes. Navarro rushed for nine TD’s this season. The Arizona native is more dual threat at barely 6-foot than ShannonDawson has liked while averaging only 8.2 and 7.8 yards per pass attempt as a starter.
Navarro threw three TD’s and ran for one against Rutgers this season, while throwing one TD against OSU. WVU picked him three times. Against Eastern Michigan he threw two TD’s with two INT’s.
Katin Houser
Katin Houser has committed to Illinois but per 247 has yet to enroll. Houser is a former four-star prep and is currently a three-star transfer. Out of high school Houser signed with Michigan State where he played as a RS-Freshman. After transferring to ECU, Houser has had success leading a hit or miss Pirates program.
The California native has NFL size at six-three, 225 pounds and is mobile enough to make some plays with his legs. In ‘25 Houser threw 19 TD’s with only six INT’s on 8.1 yards per attempt. He also rushed for nine touchdowns. Houser threw 18 TD’s and 11 INT’s with only four rushing scores while averaging 8.2 yards per pass attempt in ‘24.
Houser threw a touchdown on 68% passing against NC State, scored twice against Tulane, and twice against Memphis. BYU got the better of him picking him twice and holding him to just one TD which was on the ground.
The Wrap
Clearly Mensah is the best possible choice here for Cristobal and the Hurricanes. If Miami is stuck with Nickel, Anderson and Navarro you might as well fold any chance at the ACC Championship Game for ‘26. If Miami can’t get there with Cam Ward and Carson Beck they certainly can’t with that trio. If it’s Hauser and the two on campus I think there’s a shot for Charlotte in Miami’s future. I certainly like the FernandoMendoza like quality to his game.
But in the end we all clearly want Mensah behind center in ‘26. He’s thrown 56 touchdowns in two years while having played for three different HC’s and OC’s. After seeing Beck and Ward I’m sure he wants to throw to guys like Malachi Toney behind an OL built by AlexMirabal, even if it’s without Markel Bell, Anez Cooper and Francis Mauigoa.
Category: General Sports
