In this modern NIL and Transfer Portal era of College Football, there are constant moves and deals made that raise everyone's eyebrows. This offseason, Duke landed Tulane transfer Darian Mensah, and when it was reported that he signed a 2-year, $8 million deal worth $4 million per year, everyone was stunned.
Many were stunned that if Duke was making a quarterback, one of, if not the highest paid player in the sport, that they picked Mensah when Carson Beck, John Mateer, Jackson Arnold, and plenty of other quarterbacks transferred. The other half of the people were stunned that Duke was willing to go that far, All-In on the football side.
Duke brought in Darian Mensah for games like this weekend's
On Saturday Afternoon, Darian Mensah and Manny Diaz will have the chance to prove all of the doubters wrong when they face off against the 11th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. Many will look at the rankings and see that Illinois is ranked and Duke is not, and blindly pick against the Blue Devils this weekend.
The Illinois Fighting Illini have a star quarterback themselves in Luke Altmyer, who will make this game a tough one to win. While Illinois has a solid offense, Darian Mensah won't need to go head-to-head with Altmyer, as it's up to Manny Diaz and Jonathan Patke to slow the Illini offense.
Instead, Darian Mensah is going to need to make a massive impact for the offense and in his first game, he showed he could be one of the Nation's best. While the performance came against Elon, Mensah went 27-34 passing for 389 yards and 3 touchdowns, getting so hot at one point that he completed 14 straight passes.
In 2024, Duke quietly went 9-4 with a 9-3 record in the regular season, and having a star at quarterback could've proved to be the difference, especially in close losses to Georgia Tech and SMU. Mensah is at Duke to be the difference in the big games and if the Blue Devils can shock Illinois it'll be money well spent.
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