{"id":331035,"date":"2026-07-06T19:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/331035\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T19:45:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:45:28","slug":"monday-musings-miami-qb-darian-mensah-high-on-a-list-that-would-mean-a-tremendous-season-is-loading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/331035\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Musings: Miami QB Darian Mensah high on a list that would mean a tremendous season is loading"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Happy Monday, errrrrrrrrrrrrrbody. Hope your weeks have gotten off to a great start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">I\u2019m on vacation back in the Sunshine State, and man, how much I deeply miss living in this wonderful, wonderful place. With that being said, and being in the dead period with a lot of free time to work with, I decided to look ahead at some aspects of the upcoming season, and that includes the Heisman Trophy odds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Let\u2019s get into that now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">1) The starting QB of your Miami Hurricanes, Darian Mensah, has very high Heisman Trophy odds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">He\u2019s currently sitting at +1100 on FanDuel Sportsbook, third best, and +1200 on DraftKings Sportsbook, which is tied for fourth best with Ohio State QB Julian Sayin. Not bad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That level of bookmaker confidence speaks to the super strong outlook for the Duke transfer this fall in Shannon Dawson\u2019s offense. Mensah, had he gone into the portal at the same time that the Sam Leavitt and Ty Simpson courtships were going on by LSU and the rest of the programs looking to land a marquee quarterback, would have been one of the top players sought. And why the hell not, with what he proved last year in Durham. Manny Diaz leaned hard on the talented QB, and he delivered with 3974 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, and six picks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Now, he will have two of arguably the best ten wide receivers in the sport in Malachi Toney and Cooper Barkate, who came to Coral Gables with him. And Dawson has shown that he knows how to get the most out of his quarterback\u2019s (and offensive roster\u2019s) strengths over the last two years. Miami was an aerial (yet sneakily balanced) onslaught with Cam Ward under center in 2024. They were a blunt force object last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">2026 should look a lot like 2024 (except hopefully with a defense this time). And Miami will again have multiple top-tier pass catchers like they did then. It wouldn\u2019t shock me to see Mensah challenge some of Cam Ward\u2019s school records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">And if that all happens, Miami will have scored a ton of points, won a lot of games, and Mensah will be among the favorites to have his name tabbed to come to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. +1200 are good odds to take. But\u2026..<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">2) \u2026.I really like the upside of Malachi Toney\u2019s odds. <\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Toney is listed at +3500 by FanDuel and +3800 by DraftKings. I like those odds, particularly the payoff at +3800.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Heisman Trophy is often marked by memorable moments that lead up to the award. Moments that shape seasons, and often championship ones. Few players in college football put up more thrilling moments last season than Toney did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">And with Barkate opposite him, teams won\u2019t be able to key on Toney as they could to some degree last year. Miami will still look to run the ball, of course, as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">But the opportunity for Toney this fall is high. He\u2019ll handle snaps, throw the ball, handle punt returns, take short passes that are extensions of the running game. He\u2019ll get all kinds of opportunities to flash his unique abilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">And at 38 to 1, I\u2019d be more than willing to take a low-money, high-payoff swing at those odds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Now, if I only lived in, or regularly visited, a state where I could place that bet\u2026\u2026..oh well. Maybe next year. (And, as always, bet at your own discretion and your own risk.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy Monday, errrrrrrrrrrrrrbody. Hope your weeks have gotten off to a great start. I\u2019m on vacation back in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4980,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-331035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-football-news","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}