Report: Tulane QB Darian Mensah commits to Duke out of transfer portal

Tulane quarterback transfer Darian Mensah, one of the top players currently available in the NCAA transfer portal, has committed to Duke, according to a report from ESPN.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news on Wednesday morning, noting that Mensah is a redshirt freshman who will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Mensah entered the NCAA transfer portal fresh off a spectacular season in which he led the Green Wave to the AAC title game.

Duke, meanwhile, had starting quarterback Maalik Murphy enter the NCAA transfer portal following the season, so Darian Mensah will provide a more than adequate replacement for the departing star.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder redshirted as a true freshman before a breakout sophomore campaign in 2024. Mensah completed better than 65 percent of his passes, while throwing for over 2,100 yards and 18 touchdowns.

He led Tulane to a 9-4 record as the starter, though the Green Wave lost their last two games to fall out of College Football Playoff contention.

Darian Mensah can help replace Maalik Murphy

It’s not often you lose a quarterback coming off a season as strong as Maalik Murphy’s and potentially upgrade, but such is the case with Darian Mensah.

Murphy just finished his lone year with the Blue Devils after transferring in following two seasons with the Texas Longhorns. In total, he has appeared in 19 games with 14 of those being starts, most of which came during the one year in Durham.

Murphy is 294-of-492 (59.8%) overall in passing for 3,410 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions in his collegiate career.

With Duke this fall, Murphy was 254-of-421 (60.3%) for 2,933 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. That helped the Blue Devils to a record of 9-3, one of their best in recent history, in the program’s debut season under Manny Diaz.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this report.