The Miami Hurricanes were the favorites to land former Duke quarterback Darian Mensah from the moment he announced his intention to leave the Blue Devils.

After a settlement ended the legal dispute between Mensah and Duke, the quarterback was free to pick a new school. On Tuesday night, after visiting UM, he signed with the Hurricanes — as did his teammate at Duke, wide receiver Cooper Barkate.

Barring injury or another unpredictable event, Mensah will be Miami’s starting quarterback in 2026. He will be the third consecutive transfer quarterback to take the reins at UM, following in Cam Ward and Carson Beck’s footsteps. Ward was a Heisman Trophy finalist in his one season at Miami, while Beck led the Hurricanes to the national title game. So what does Mensah bring to Miami?

Mensah, entering his third season as a starting quarterback, has progressed into one of the best passers in the nation. After a solid season as Tulane’s starter in 2024, Mensah transferred to Duke. He finished last season with 3,973 passing yards, which was second in the nation. His 34 touchdown passes were tied for second. Mensah had just six interceptions.

After leading the Blue Devils to their first ACC title since 1989, Mensah was named a second-team All-ACC selection.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Mensah earned an 84.1 offensive grade with an 85 passing grade from Pro Football Focus. His passing grade was second in the ACC and 12th nationally among quarterbacks with 100 or more dropbacks.

He was tied for seventh nationally in what PFF describes as “big time throws” with 28. Mensah had 21 throws that PFF described as “turnover worthy,” which was tied for ninth in the nation. For comparison, Carson Beck had 16 big-time throws and 12 turnover-worthy throws.

He completed big-time throws on 5.6 percent of his passes, which was 31st nationally. He threw turnover-worthy passes just 3.6 percent of the time, which ranked 79th nationally. Beck’s big-time throw percentage was 3.3 percent, and his turnover-worthy throw percentage was 2.2 percent.

Mensah’s numbers in those categories are similar to Ward’s 2024 numbers at UM. That season, Ward completed big-time throws 6.3 percent of the time and threw turnover-worthy passes 3.3 percent of the time.

Mensah is a prolific deep-ball thrower. His 86 deep passes were the most in the nation. Mensah had an 89.7 PFF grade on passes 20 or more yards downfield and a 92.7 grade on passes 10-19 yards from the line of scrimmage, ranking 47th and fourth in the nation, respectively. Those compare favorably with Ward, who had stellar 95 and 93.7 grades on deep and intermediate passes, respectively.

Beck had a 78.6 grade on deep passes and an 81.9 grade on intermediate passes, ranking 85th and 52nd nationally, respectively.

Importantly, Mensah places the ball well on deep throws. He threw the ball 20 or more yards 86 times and was picked off just twice. On 63 deep throws, Beck had seven interceptions.

Like Beck (and nearly all college quarterbacks), Mensah was substantially worse under pressure this past season. He went from a 92.6 passing grade when kept in a clean pocket to a 46.9 passing grade when under pressure. Mensah’s completion percentage fell from 75.7 percent when kept clean to 44.1 percent when under pressure.

Although Beck struggled when under pressure, Miami’s offensive line did an excellent job of protecting him. Beck threw under pressure 17 percent of the time, which was the lowest rate in the nation. But the Hurricanes are losing four starters from their offensive line — including likely first-round pick Francis Mauigoa — so there is a good chance Mensah will face more pressure than Beck did.

Bringing Mensah in, along with Barkate, and pairing him with Miami’s standout offensive players like Mark Fletcher Jr. and Malachi Toney could improve the Hurricanes’ offense in 2026.