- Duke quarterback Darian Mensah is returning to New Orleans to face his former team, Tulane.
- The quarterback has found Durham to be a ‘perfect place’ and was named a team captain for the 2025 season.
- Mensah signed a reported $8 million NIL deal upon transferring to Duke.
The last time Duke football quarterback Darian Mensah was in New Orleans was for Mardi Gras this past March.
Six months later, the former Tulane quarterback is back in New Orleans, not for beads or parades, but to face his former team for the first time since transferring to Duke in December 2024.
Mensah spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons in New Orleans after committing to the Green Wave – the first program to offer him and the lone Bowl Subdivision school to do so – out of St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, California. He redshirted his freshman season before throwing for 2,732 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2024 to lead the Green Wave to the American Athletic championship game, where they fell to Army.
Days later, he entered the transfer portal, where he was ESPN’s No. 3-rated player.
The return Saturday to Yulman Stadium is described as a ‘weird’ one by Mensah, who will be going up against former teammates, some of whom he spent Mardi Gras with alongside his family, playing in a stadium where he spent time the first two years of his college career.
‘Those are my guys still to this day,’ Mensah said.
At the same time, playing against his former teammates in a stadium he knows so well brings a sense of familiarity – not just for Mensah but for the Green Wave, too.
‘We know Darian well,’ Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall said, ‘he knows us pretty well, too.’
Durham, North Carolina: The ‘perfect place’ for Darian Mensah
Two days after entering the transfer portal, Mensah got his first taste of Duke on an official visit where he was welcomed by the Cameron Crazies in attendance for Duke basketball’s game against Incarnate Ward. Not long after, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback announced his transfer, inking a reported $8 million NIL deal.
Academically, Mensah said Duke isn’t much more rigorous than Tulane, with both universities ranking among the top 100 in ‘U.S. News & World Report’s’ 2025 Best Colleges rankings: Duke at No. 6 and Tulane No. 63. City-wise, though, New Orleans’ lively vibe differs from that of Durham’s more chill, relaxed setting, which reminds Mensah of his hometown of San Luis Obispo, California, despite being more than 2,500 miles apart.
Mensah noted that he has his own house for the first time in Durham, adding to the homey feeling of his new city.
‘Durham is the perfect place for me,’ Mensah said.
That comfort off the field has carried over onto the gridiron. Mensah quickly earned the trust of his teammates and became a leader in the Blue Devils locker room, being named one of Duke’s four team captains for 2025. Through the Blue Devils’ first two games, Mensah has thrown for 723 yards and five touchdowns while being intercepted once.
‘He’s magical,’ Duke wide receiver Cooper Barkate said following Duke’s season-opening win over Elon. ‘Probably everyone has told you that, but he really is.’
Darian Mensah’s return to New Orleans
While Mensah’s last trip to New Orleans was in March, his last time seeing Sumrall was this past summer at the wedding of Green Wave quarterbacks coach Collin D’Angelo. It was nothing but love between Mensah and his former coach.
‘I probably spent more time with him at the wedding than did I anybody, other than maybe my wife,’ Sumrall said.
‘If you play one snap for me or 100 or 1000, I love you for as long as I live.’
Facing a former team isn’t new to Duke personnel either. Duke football coach Manny Diaz knows all too well what it’s like, as the former Miami coach found himself on the sidelines of Hard Rock Stadium when Duke made the trip to face the Hurricanees in November 2024.
‘I always say it’s awkward, especially before the game,’ Diaz said. ‘But that first play, it just becomes ball and everyone’s trying to do their job. I suspect that’ll probably be the way it’ll go Saturday.”
Same goes for Duke offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jonathan Brewer, who formerly coached at SMU and led Duke against the Mustangs last year.
Brewer said him and Mensah have discussed his return to New Orleans since Mensah’s arrival on campus.
‘You’d be lying to say you weren’t more emotional in that game, that’s just what it is, it’s human nature,’ Brewer said. ‘You just need to know how to control your emotions, how to control adversity when bad things happen and not overreact.’
And while Mensah has settled in Durham, there’s one thing he still misses from New Orleans. He hopes to fit in a stop while he’s back in town.
‘That gumbo in Louisiana is always A-1,’ he said.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her atasnyder@gannett.com or follow her@annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.