It's possible that Notre Dame got a big hint on who will be under center when the Irish face off against the Hurricanes next fall.
Duke quarterback Darian Mensah announced he's entering the Transfer Portal on the last day he could. While there's a mess involved in whether or not the signal caller can really transfer, most involved expect that when he does go elsewhere, it will be to Miami.
Should the Blue Devils' quarterback head to his ACC rival, it would mean that Notre Dame would face off against a veteran transfer in his first year with Miami. That didn't work out great this season when they went up against Carson Beck, but Mensah would also be a different kind of quarterback than the ex-Georgia Bulldog.
Why Darian Mensah is trending toward Miami ahead of Notre Dame matchup
Early in the offseason, Mensah was reportedly considering entering the 2026 NFL Draft, but was only mulling a decision between the draft and a return to Durham in 2026. After the rising redshirt junior announced he would not be entering the draft, he shot a video saying he was returning to Durham in 2026.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound redshirt sophomore transferred from Tulane to Duke after the 2024 season and led the Blue Devils to their first outright ACC championship since 1962 with a 27-20 overtime upset of Virginia in the conference title game.
Mensah earned second-team All-ACC honors after producing a conference-leading 3,973 passing yards on 66.8% passing with 35 total touchdowns and six interceptions.
In his career, Mensah has thrown for more than 6,600 yards and 56 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions. He's also shown an ability to be more mobile than Beck, though he's not a true scrambling quarterback. For Tulane, he ran for 132 yards but was in the negatives thanks to sacks for Duke.
The degree of difficulty for Miami and Mensah is that, according to Pete Thamel, Duke believes it has the quarterback under contract. The whole story is a very similar situation to what happened last week with Washington and quarterback Demond Williams.
Just days after he declared he was entering the portal, he reversed course and decided to stay. Princewill Umanmielen from Ole Miss is also reportedly under contract with the Rebels and said he wants to hit the portal.
Notre Dame can sit back and wait and watch. For now, Darian Mensah is almost certainly the 2026 Miami Hurricanes' quarterback. If his deal falls through, it's not clear who the 'Canes will turn to next fall.