The Next Level Darian Mensah Can Take to Be A More Complete Quarterback

Darian Mensah is already a Heisman-level player, but there is another level he can reach to be the best player in the country.

Oct 17, 2026; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah (10) throws during the first half against the Florida State Seminoles at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes have spent the past two seasons with a Heisman-like quarterback on its roster.

Moreover, Darian Mensah might be the best one the Hurricanes have ever had. Mensah continues to play at an all-time level, but there is still more that he can do.

Mensah threw his first interception of the season, but played great afterwards. Moreover, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson sees what works well for Mensah.

There are levels to his game that he loves, and the main reason he can open up his offense.

"The best thing he does is take care of the football," Dawson said. "Now, we threw a pick in that game, look, it happens, right? And that particular play, I mean, there's a lot of coaching points in that play. You could throw it out there a little bit more, you could run it, right?

"But ultimately, like, his decision-making, it's been pretty spot on, and the taking care of the ball. And I tell every quarterback this too. You want me to call the game aggressively? Then take care of the football, and I'll call it real aggressive if you take care of the football, and he does that."

However, even with the good, Dawson also knows that some areas need to be cleaned up for Mensah to be a complete player. Mensah is a few steps away from being the best quarterback in the country and the Heisman frontrunner.

"Now, you were talking about one thing to work on. The only, like, when we get in trouble is, like, is when we get, like, in the pocket. There's some stuff that might happen that moves us and takes us off our progression at times," Dawson said. "There was one particular play in the game I'm thinking about that, like, the second read, kind of what you were talking about, but the second read was open, but we kind of got a little bit moved off the pocket, in the pocket, but for no reason really.

Darian Mensah against the blitz vs. FSU:

🎯 8-for-8 (100%)
🔥 88 Yards
⭐️ 3 TDs
🙌 0 INTs@PFF_College pic.twitter.com/dmNxxEIdfF

— Eye of the Hurricanes (@CanesCentralSI) October 18, 2026

"And so, and he's really, really good in the pocket, and there's probably a couple plays in the game that happened that, man, like when there's no reason to move, there's no reason to move, you know? Every quarterback's guilty of that.

"That's not being overly critical of him because, it's a hard job back there. You got big, talented guys running after you, twisting, and your eyes need to be down the field. You got to be calm in the pocket, but you got to move when you need to move, and you got to extend when you need to extend.

"So the job description's tough, we're critical of a lot of plays in the meeting room. Because ultimately we want to continue getting better, continue pressing the envelope, and so you can't do that if you're patting everybody on the *** all the time, surely."

Mensah looks to continue his historic pace, and getting comfortable in the pocket could push him to that next level.

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