Miami starting quarterback Darian Mensah has lit up the stat sheet for the Canes so far. More than halfway through the season, the Canes lead the nation in scoring offense and are No. 2 in total offense and No. 4 in passing offense.
But before Mensah got to Miami, he was a former two-star recruit coming out of high school. He started his college career at Tulane before transferring to Duke and then Miami. The signal-caller is now one of the favorites to take home the Heisman Trophy.
Here’s a look at Mensah’s journey to Coral Gables and how he went under the radar as a recruit.
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Where is Darian Mensah from?
Darian Mensah is from San Luis Obispo, Calif., which is located on the central coast of California. It lies in between Monterrey and Santa Monica.
He attended St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, Calif. The private Catholic high school has an enrollment of just over 500 students per U.S. News.
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Darian Mensah recruiting
St. Joseph plays out of CIF-Central Section Division IAA in California. His head coach was Pepe Villasenor, who still is the head coach for the Knights.
“Mensah is the textbook later-bloomer,” 247Sports’ Director of Scouting told The Sporting News via email. “He only played in five games as a junior due to transfer rules in California and was a quarterback few, if any, saw on the offseason circuit. With how accelerated quarterback recruiting has become, the combination of limited tape and no Elite 11 type of work out to stand kept him off a lot of radars.
It’s just a hard sell for personnel departments when schools are now locking up quarterbacks before junior seasons even begin. But credit the Tulane staff for going across the country and finding him. He certainly has outkicked our projection, which was a Group of Six starter.”
He was rated by the 247Sports Composite as a two-star, checking in as the No. 161 quarterback in the class of 2023. He was rated as the No. 383 player out of his home state.
He had just two offers coming out of high school. Tulane was the first, coming in August of his senior year. He was also offered by Idaho State and Lindenwood of the FCS.
Mensah was discovered by the son of then-Tulane head coach Willie Fritz, Wes, who was on his father’s staff in New Orleans. Per Yahoo Sports, Mensah’s tape made its way to Wes. At the time, the Green Wave needed a quarterback.
“We were scouring the country,” Wes said via Yahoo Sports.
“Other schools were probably like, ‘Is this Tulane offer even real?'” said Wes Fritz with a laugh, he and dad Willie now at Houston. “They were probably like, ‘What the hell is going on here?'”
”It was one of those things where I was going through all kinds of people from all over,” Wes added via The News & Observer. “And he stuck out to me on film.”
Mensah signed with Tulane on National Signing Day in Feb. 2023 and enrolled in the summer.
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Darian Mensah at Tulane
Mensah took a redshirt his first season there. By the end of his redshirt season, Fritz took the Houston job in 2024, and Mensah stayed put as Jon Sumrall and his staff arrived. He competed with former four-star quarterback recruit, Ty Thompson, who now plays tight end at Tulane, for the starting job ahead of the 2024 season.
He won the starting job over Thompson, and Sumrall’s decision paid off. Mensah led Tulane to an AAC title game berth and 9-4 finish while throwing for 2,723 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions.
The signal-caller entered the portal after Tulane’s conference title game loss to Army.
Darian Mensah transfers to Duke
Just a few days after Mensah entered the portal, he committed to Duke. The Blue Devils had gone 9-4 under first-year head coach Manny Diaz. Duke was in need of a quarterback, as starter Maliik Murphy entered the portal at the end of the season.
He had an even better season than the one at Tulane in Durham, throwing for 3,973 yards with 34 touchdowns and six interceptions. Due to some wonky ACC tiebreak rules, the Blue Devils were sent to the ACC title game in December against Virginia. Mensah threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns during the Blue Devils’ 27-20 overtime win over the Cavaliers. The win gave Duke their first ACC title since 1962.
Darian Mensah transfer to Miami
Mensah opted to enter the portal once again after his lone season with Tulane. His exit from Duke was a bit messy. After Mensah announced he had committed to Miami on social media, the school initially sued Mensah in Durham County Superior Court. The school wanted to both enforce the multi-year NIL agreement he signed with the school, and prevent him from leaving.
But the school entered his name into the portal, and the two sides later settled on the lawsuit, allowing Mensah to freely go to Miami.
So far, Mensah’s decision to transfer looks like it paid off, as the Canes are the No. 1 team in the country and appear locked into the College Football Playoff. Mensah has thrown for 2,425 yards with 25 touchdowns and just one interception, including another two rushing scores on the season thus far.
