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<\/a><\/p>\nCORAL GABLES, FL – APRIL 18: Miami quarterback Darian Mensah (10) throws a pass with head coach Mario Cristobal watching from the background as the Miami Hurricanes played their spring game on April 18, 2026, at Cobb Stadium in Coral Gables, Florida. (Photo by Samuel Lewis\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Darian Mensah comes to Coral Gables to lead the Hurricanes after two stellar seasons elsewhere. After bursting onto the scene at Tulane in 2024, Mensah transferred to Duke and took his game to another level in 2025. He was 2nd nationally and led the ACC with 3,973 yards passing, and added 34 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions on 67% completions. Based largely on the back of his stellar play, Mensah helped lead Duke to the ACC Championship in 2025.<\/p>\n
Initially, Mensah said he was going to stay at Duke for 2026. However, he reversed course and entered the portal on the last day before it closed, and after a short evaluation \u2014 and back and forth with Duke about his NIL contract \u2014 Mensah transferred to Miami, immediately jumping to the top of the depth chart, and plugging the one glaring hole on Miami\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n
Mensah is talented passer and an upgrade over last year\u2019s starter Carson Beck. That\u2019s not a shot at Beck; it\u2019s praise for Mensah. He\u2019s one of the most accurate passers in the country, and he excels in an area where Beck lacked impact last year (something that hamstrung the offense and made it more pedestrian than explosive): deep ball passing. With Mensah\u2019s pinpoint accuracy and increased penchant to see AND HIT vertical throws as opposed to Beck, the Miami offense should have an element of explosiveness in the passing game that was a bit lacking last season.<\/p>\n
Overall, Mensah figures to be one of the best players at this position anywhere in the country this season. If he plays to his ability, and prior level of performance, Miami should be one of the most dynamic offenses in the country, in and Mensah could (should) find himself in New York City as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n
Sure, he\u2019s wearing Duke Blue, but here\u2019s Mensah\u2019s 2025 highlight film so you can see what kind of player Miami has leading the offense this upcoming season.<\/p>\n
Beyond Mensah, there are 3 other scholarship QBs on the roster. They are:<\/p>\n
Redshirt Freshman Luke Nickel. A talented 6\u20192\u201d 205lb quarterback, Nickel led Milton (GA) to consecutive GHSAA State Championships, and won the last 23 games of his HS career along the way. Nickel was a 4-star recruit and has plenty of talent. He\u2019s the odds-on favorite for the backup QB job, but the others in this room won\u2019t give that up without a fight.True Freshman Dereon Coleman. A diminutive 6\u20190\u201d 170lbs, Coleman\u2019s arm, playmaking ability, and potential are all bigger than his stature. He was a record-setting quarterback at Orlando (FL) Jones, and helped several WRs earn 4- and 5-star ratings as recruits. Coleman absolutely has the talent to play here, and compete with Nickel for the backup job in 2026. His best football is unquestionably in front of him, and there\u2019s a good chance he\u2019ll redshirt this year and look to compete for the starting job in 2027.Junior Judd Anderson. He\u2019s gigantic at 6\u20197\u201d 230lbs (and trust, he\u2019s every bit of that), and the veteran returning player in the room. Anderson took strides forward in the Spring, but he will need to take another big step forward to be in next year\u2019s QB competition.<\/p>\n
The motto at QB this year is simple: In Mensah We Trust.<\/p>\n
Miami added one of the 5 best quarterbacks in the country in the transfer portal yet again, answered the only question on the roster heading into the season, and continues the procession of top signal callers coming to Coral Gables (or Miami Gardens for game days, if you prefer). With Mensah on the roster, Miami has their sights set on the ACC Championship, a return to the College Football Playoffs, and another deep run in the playoffs once there.<\/p>\n
While Nickel, Coleman, and Anderson \u2014 along with 5-star 2027 QB commit Israel Abrams \u2014 have talent to lead Miami in the future (in varying degrees), this season is firmly and necessarily about Mensah. He\u2019s the guy. He\u2019s the QB. He\u2019s the leader of the team. And it\u2019s up to him to continue the string of excellence Miami has gotten from QB in recent years and lead this team where they want to go.<\/p>\n
I know you have thoughts, so share them in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much to the dismay and ire of many around the world of College Football, the Miami Hurricanes have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4980,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-354467","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\/354467","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=354467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}