Welcome to Duke Darian Mensah !

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I second this recommendation. Jim’s articles are great.
Add my endorsement to Jim Sumner's reports. A great value, that would make a terrific gift for any Duke sports fan who isn't already a subscriber.

 
I watched the highlights from most of Tulane's games this year. Obvious caveat is that these are the highlights.

I like Mensah a lot. He clearly doesn't have the arm strength of Murphy. Still, he is capable of hitting deep balls on occasion. More importantly, he's capable of making a lot of different types of throws. He spreads the ball out to a number of receivers and throws a soft, catchable ball. What he lacks in arm strength he makes up for significantly in touch.

Now, his legs. He may not be Riley/DJ/Sirk in terms of running, but he may seem that way in comparison to the immobile Murphy. Tulane rarely called designed runs for him, which was curious to me. He can clearly run. Almost all of the yards I saw came in scrambling situations on called pass plays. I think if Duke wants to sprinkle in some read option, he can clearly handle it. Also, he is good at moving his feet in the pocket. He can avoid the rush to make plays with his legs or arm. I like his ability to scramble in the pocket, but still get his feet set and shoulders squared to make throws downfield. Also, Tulane did call a lot of designed rollouts for him.

I'd say if we ran an offense similar to what we ran under Cut and Elko, Mensah could easily double his 132 rushing yards, if not more. It remains to be seen whether the current staff wants to use the QB in the running game that much. At minimum, his mobility should help extend plays.
 
Amid the reports that the Duke staff felt that Murphy didn’t fit the mold of the type of QB for the offense they want to run, it seems likely the Duke staff wants a more mobile QB and they feel Mensah fits that mold.
 
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If I'm a HS QB recruit, I'm knocking schools off my list that are shoppers. Why would I sign up when I've seen that they are more likely to replace me? I've not looked yet, but I was wondering what ND's plan is for next year. They've now gone through two straight years of QB that weren't recruited out of HS, meaning that whoever showed up in '22 has been overlooked twice. Duke's setting up to do the same thing.
Not everybody can go to Clemson.
 
He'll be able to work on that well with Coach Feeley.
That'll help, but only a bit. A live arm is a gift as much as a developed talent. That said, QB mobility can open up receiver separation and from the video I've seen, his arm is good if not a cannon.....and he brings a lot more to the table.

And FTR, while MM's arm was surely strong, I did not quite see a Jeff George type cannon TBH on him. I did see Billy Kilmer mobility however.
 
That'll help, but only a bit. A live arm is a gift as much as a developed talent. That said, QB mobility can open up receiver separation and from the video I've seen, his arm is good if not a cannon.....and he brings a lot more to the table.

And FTR, while MM's arm was surely strong, I did not quite see a Jeff George type cannon TBH on him. I did see Billy Kilmer mobility however.
Agree on arm. I knew a kid in college who was a stick with arms like toothpicks. Could throw 80+ yards.
Kilmer was hardly a scooter, but he was far more mobile. Scored 8 TDs his senior season at UCLA.
 
Agree on arm. I knew a kid in college who was a stick with arms like toothpicks. Could throw 80+ yards.
Kilmer was hardly a scooter, but he was far more mobile. Scored 8 TDs his senior season at UCLA.
Are you talking Val Kilmer or Billy Kilmer? LOL
Didn't know that about Kilmer at UCLA. My reference point was the last stage Skin's Kilmer....who usually played with a limp.....
 
Has Mensah's salary -- er, NIL money -- been discussed here? I wasn't checking in much during the holidays:

This got some discussion earlier with speculation on if it was 4-4 or weighted to the second year (e.g. 3-5) to entice staying another year.
 
In unsubstantiated rumorville, I read somewhere that an enticement had been given to Quinn Ewers to return for one more year of college ball at a price of $6M (I kinda doubt that offer would have been from Texas), which made this sound slightly less bat-whatever.

At the very least, the exaggerations continue to grow.
 
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