$10 million QB believed to have 'biggest natty impact' after transfer portal move

A transfer portal quarterback at a Power Four football program is expected to have the biggest impact on a national championship outcome in 2026.

Duke Blue Devils quarterback Darian Mensah (10) throws a pass during the first quarter against the Illinois Fighting Illini | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

The 2026 NCAA transfer portal cycle brought about a chaotic period from the end of the 2025 college football regular season into late January.

Thousands of players from every level of college football scoured the portal for new schools to compete for in 2026. The transfers who received the most attention were the quarterbacks who hopped from one Power Four program to another.

One of the very last players to enter the NCAA transfer portal was former Duke quarterback Darian Mensah, who committed to Miami. He will have two seasons of eligibility with the Hurricanes.

Miami is the third different school Mensah will play for in his college football career. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder started his career at Tulane under Willie Fritz in 2023. Mensah took the reins of the Green Wave's offense in 2024, passing for 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while guiding Tulane to an AAC Championship appearance.

Mensah transferred to Duke in the 2025 offseason. In his lone season with the Blue Devils, he threw for 3,973 yards, 34 touchdowns and six interceptions while guiding Duke to its first outright ACC title since 1962. Mensah's exit from Duke was a messy one; it ended with a legal settlement between Mensah and the university that allowed him to enter the portal.

Miami's acquisition of Mensah means it will field a transfer quarterback for the third consecutive season, following Cam Ward and Carson Beck. Mensah's productivity at a pair of schools not historically known for their football success has many wondering what kind of impact he can make on the Hurricanes.

J.D. PicKell of On3 released a list of superlatives for quarterbacks in the 2026 portal cycle. PicKell said Mensah would have the biggest impact on a national championship run in the 2026 college football season.

"You (Miami) made a national title game a year ago with a quarterback who was good. (Beck had) a lot of talent, a lot of ability, had a fair amount of scars from what he had done at Georgia, cool tattoos," PicKell said.

"Darian Mensah into the fold brings an elevated skillset. He's closer to what Cam Ward was when you had that magical run, when you were scoring 40 a game and saying 'hey, if we just had a defense that could stop a nosebleed, we might be in good shape here to go win a national championship.'"

With Clemson's fall from national prominence over the previous five seasons, the ACC has become a league without a perennial powerhouse. Five of Miami's nine ACC games in 2026 are against programs that failed to make a bowl game in 2025.

The toughest game for the Hurricanes in 2026 figures to be at Notre Dame on Nov. 7, a program bittered by the College Football Playoff committee's decision to exclude it while allowing the Hurricanes a bid this past season.

Duke quarterback Darian Mensah (10) celebrates after the Blue Devils score a touchdown in overtime during the ACC Championship game | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images