Former Tulane Football Star Quarterback Lands on List of Highest NIL Earners
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Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall thought he found his star quarterback — then Darian Mensah transferred to the Duke Blue Devils.
After just one season as Tulane's starter, the redshirt freshman entered the transfer portal for reportedly one of the highest NIL deals in the nation.
Pete Nakos with On3 Sports spoke extensively with anonymous Power Four personnel staffers and NIL collectives to determine the highest-paid players in the transfer portal, and more insights including how programs handle tampering.
Two SEC and one ACC NIL collective members, and personnel staffers from the ACC, SEC and Big 12 all answered who they thought received the highest NIL deal this offseason.
Miami Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck was named by all but one source. The ACC personnel staffer thought Mensah’s offer with Duke was more lucrative.
“I’ve heard he got $4 million,” the staffer said.
Mensah was also named by the Big 12 personnel staffer, who thought he received $3 million, alongside Beck with a reported $3.5 million deal.
Those are pretty unfathomable numbers for college football players, let alone a redshirt freshman, but such is the state of the sport.
The transfer portal and NIL are intricately woven in the landscape, with impending revenue sharing bringing resources north of $20 million.
Programs in the Group of Five are already at a disadvantage. It’s impossible for even many Power Four schools to retain roster talent when they’re being offered literal millions elsewhere.
As Jon Sumrall has stated, the Green Wave have benefited as much as they’ve lost from the portal. It doesn’t change the fact that the team had less than 48 hours to process losing a conference championship before their star quarterback walked out the door.
There were no direct allegations of tampering, but within two days of entering the portal, Mensah was a Blue Devil. It’s an unavoidable part of the sport as much as all other factors.
Most of the anonymous sources gave an answer of reluctant acceptance of tampering and that it’s mostly a by-product of the system the NCAA created.
It certainly doesn't lessen the sting of Mensah's departure. However, rather than wallow, Sumrall has been on a heater this offseason retooling his Tulane football team for a College Football Playoff run.
This time, with lessons learned from the quarterback competition that produced an unknown superstar. College football teams can choose to adapt or fall behind in the NIL landscape.
The Green Wave didn't have much choice in the matter of Mensah, but they can control their team mentality moving forward.
Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com