$8M College Quarterback is a Bust

Those of you following the drama of the NIL in college football, you are probably aware of Duke QB Darian Mensah. It hasn’t turned out so great for Blue Devils.

Darian Mensah is a 20-year-old American football quarterback for the Duke Blue Devils, previously with the Tulane Green Wave. As a redshirt freshman at Tulane in 2024, he started all 13 games, completing 65.9% of his passes for 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions, while adding 132 rushing yards and a score, leading the team to the AAC title game.

Mensah entered the transfer portal on December 8, 2024, and committed to Duke just three days later on December 11, following an official visit where he was welcomed by the Cameron Crazies basketball fans. He transferred for several key reasons: the opportunity to compete in the prestigious ACC conference; Duke’s academic prestige and strong education (both schools rank in the top 100 nationally, but he valued the Blue Devils’ reputation); the supportive community and team culture that reminded him of home; and a reported $8 million NIL deal over two years, one of the largest in college football history. With three years of eligibility left, he’s already Duke’s starting QB, named a 2025 team captain, and has thrown for 723 yards and five TDs through two games.

This 20-year-old kid who hasn’t done anything in his career other than have a halfway decent season at Tulane makes more money than almost every NFL player. Approximately 1,344 to 1,568 NFL players (including active roster and practice squad) make less than $4 million per year in 2025, based on salary distributions and roster sizes.

Who foots these payments?

Deals like Mensah’s are funded through alumnus organizations mostly. His in particular is funded through Duke’s NIL collective, the Durham Devils Club, which pools money from boosters and donors.

Piss Poor Performance

University alum can spend all the money they want on players they deem to be top-notch but as Mensah has proved, it doesn’t always work out that way. The Blue Devils are 1-2 after three games this season. Their only win is against Elon, a much smaller program from within the same state. The two games they have played against worthy competition have been disastrous.

First, they got crushed by Illinois 45-17. Then came the debacle down at Tulane University. The score (34-27) looks a lot closer than the game actually was. The Blue Devils got smoked the entire game and scored some meaningless points at the very end of the game.

Mensah struggled the entire game and didn’t make plays when they needed him most. His stats of 300 yards and 3 TD’s are a padded by garbage time completions.

Mensah is now 10-7 in his college career and is making a truckload of money. If I were a Duke booster I would have serious buyer’s remorse right about now.

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