Duke quarterback Darian Mensahis enteringthe transfer portal, he announced Friday.
Mensah posted a 34-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio, threw for nearly 4,000 yards andguided the Blue Devils to an ACC title this seasonafter transferring from Tulane.
Mensah went from having one FBS scholarship offer out of Saint Joseph High School in California to impressing at Tulane and attracting a bidding war in last year's portal.
He ultimatelysigned a lucrative, two-year deal with Duke, and,according to ESPN's Pete Thamel, it's the school's understanding his contract gives it his exclusive NIL rights and that only Duke has the ability to cancel that.
On Friday, the final day for a player on a team not in Monday night's national title game to enter this year's portal, Thamelalso reported:
"The only way [Mensah] can access revenue share money is through Duke, unless they terminate the contract. Mensah is in Year 2 of the contract for a deal that would pay him up to $4 million. The ability for any school to pay him outside of revenue share would be scrutinized."
Additionally, On3's Pete Nakosreported there's no buyout in Mensah's Duke contract.
Last month, rather than declaring for the NFL Draft, Mensah committed to rejoining the Blue Devils for the 2026 season. Now he's changed course.
There are still marquee programs in need of a star quarterback like Mensah for next season. Miami is chief among them andreportedly is the school to watch in his portal recruitment.
Mensah turned heads in Tulane camp ahead of the 2024 season, seized the starting job and led the Green Wave to the American championship game in Jon Sumrall's first season as head coach.
Tulane rose as high as No. 17 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and Mensah completed 65.9% of his passes while tossing 22 touchdowns against six picks as a redshirt freshman.
At Duke this season, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound signal-caller turned in six 300-yard passing games. In total, his 3,973 yards through the air were second most of any FBS quarterback during the 2025 campaign. Plus, his 34 touchdowns were tied for second most nationally.
Mensah did all of that while bumping his completion rate to 66.8% and piloting Duke to a 9-5 record, including four straight wins to end the season.
The five-loss Blue Devilswon a five-way tie for second place in the ACC over four other teams with better overall records, most notably Miami, and wound up beating Virginia in the conference title game.
Mensah helped deliver some more hardware back to Durham, throwing for 327 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-39 Sun Bowl win over Arizona State.
