Duke files lawsuit, trying to prevent star QB Darian Mensah from joining Miami
A day after Duke filed a lawsuit to attempt to prevent star quarterback Darian Mensah from transferring to the University of Miami or anywhere else, the Blue Devils made clear on Wednesday that the school has no intention of granting him permission to leave.
Whether Duke has the ability to do that legally will play out in a North Carolina court room in the weeks ahead.
College football’s latest portal soap opera began last Friday, when Mensah entered the transfer portal and a source told The Miami Herald that he intended to enroll at UM and succeed the departing Carson Beck as the team’s quarterback.
On Tuesday, Duke filed a lawsuit to attempt to prevent the Atlantic Coast Conference’s passing yardage leader from leaving. On Wednesday, Duke went further by issuing a strongly-worded statement.
“Mr. Mensah has an existing contract with Duke which the university intends to honor, and we expect he will do the same,” the statement said.
“The court ordered temporary restraining order issued [Tuesday] ensures he does not violate his contract. The university is committed to supporting all of our student-athletes, while expecting each of them to abide by their contractual obligations.”
That restraining order does indeed prevent Mensah from joining another school’s football program for now.
But Mensah’s attorney, Darren Heitner, said the court ruling on Monday also required Duke to abide by Mensah’s request to enter the portal. Players who wish to transfer cannot enter the portal on their own; schools must do that procedurally and are required to do so within 48 hours after receiving the request from a player.
But according to Heitner, Duke would be violating a court order if it doesn’t place him in the portal by the end of the day on Wednesday.
Mensah intends to sign with the Hurricanes once this is resolved, a UM source reiterated.
“Our understanding based on the judge’s ruling is [Duke] is going to comply with NCAA rules and they’ll do so on [Wednesday],” Heitner said.
Heitner said he is “confident” that Mensah will be permitted to play at another school next season. There is no legal precedent to compel a player to remain at a school that he wishes to leave simply because he signed a multi-year NIL deal with time remaining on the contract.
But Heiter said that Mensah would not be permitted to enroll at any school before an additional ruling from a judge, which will come no earlier than Feb. 2, unless Mensah succeeds in his pursuit of an expedited hearing.
Duke’s lawsuit dovetailed with UM No. 2 quarterback Emory Williams entering the transfer portal on Tuesday; East Carolina is considered his likely landing spot.
Duke’s lawsuit, filed in Durham (N.C.) Superior Court on Tuesday, alleges that Mensah breached a multiyear NIL contract that expires Dec. 31, 2026.
The judge assigned to the case recused himself because he’s a Duke season-ticket holder. The case has been re-assigned to another judge, Heitner said.
The parties (Duke, Mensah and potentially UM) could work toward an out-of-court settlement regarding Mensah’s NIL contract and how Duke would be compensated, but UM is not permitted to be involved in any negotiations at this time. Duke and Mensah appeared to be headed toward that path before Duke surprised Mensah by filing a lawsuit on Tuesday.
There is some degree of gray area regarding a player’s legal right to break an NIL deal and move to another school, but no legal ruling to this point in the NIL era has ever compelled a player to remain at a school that he wishes to leave.
One factor working in UM’s favor: Though schools compensate players through NIL deals, they do not legally designate them as employees. Thus, revenue sharing NIL contracts are not employee contracts, a factor which has aided players who want to escape NIL deals and play elsewhere.
“If Mensah were an employee of Duke and signed a multiyear employment contract with the school, he would not be able to transfer,” Sportico.com legal analyst Michael McCann said in an analysis/news piece. “Instead, in the current environment, there is a murkier relationship between the two where while he is ostensibly being paid for NIL, the school wants him to stay as a student to play football—much like an NFL team doesn’t want to lose its star QB, except that QB is an employee and union member.”
Players with binding NIL deals who wish to transfer typically would have contracts that include early termination language specifying what players must redeem their university if they breach the contract and leave.
In its lawsuit, Duke alleges that Mensah’s NIL contract grants the school “exclusive rights” to Mensah’s NIL rights “with respect to higher education and football.” Duke says Mensah transferring would constitute him acting “as if his obligations” to the university “do not exist.”
Per sportico.com, Mensah’s contract “contains a mandatory arbitration provision, which Duke says it has followed, but the school insists that an emergency restraining order is needed to prevent Mensah from ‘ignoring his contractual obligations to Duke and transferring to another school to compete in football and license his NIL rights to that school.”
Duke said that “enrollment at another school and commitment to play football at that school” would constitute a violation of his Duke NIL deal since he has contractually “agreed that no other school can use Mensah’s NIL.”
But Mensah can argue that a college cannot prevent a student athlete from transferring to another school. He also can argue, as sportico noted, that the parties agreed to arbitrate disputes and Duke filing a lawsuit violates the spirit of that.
Carl Stein, an attorney who advises college athletes, told The New York Times last week that “the biggest difficulty is coming up with damages that a judge or arbitrator will accept. How can you quantify the financial harm a university will suffer based on a single player playing someone else? I could put on my creative lawyer hat and come up with some ideas, but it would be really hard to prove.”
As McCann noted, “Mensah could maintain that his transfer to another college would not constitute irreparable harm. He could contend that a breach of contract involves monetary considerations, which money damages can fix, and that on the field the Blue Devils could replace him with another player.”
Mensah’s deal with Duke does not have a buyout clause. But Duke’s lawsuit is not seeking compensation; it’s attempting to compel Mensah to remain with the program.
With Carson Beck out of eligibility, UM has been operating under the belief that Mensah will be its starting quarterback next season. He led Duke to an ACC Championship game win against Virginia and ranked second in the country in touchdown passes (34) and passing yardage (3973) and threw just six interceptions.
The Canes remain hopeful that Mensah will end up at UM.
In the wake of Williams departure on Tuesday, UM has three other quarterbacks on their roster for next season: Luke Nickel, Judd Anderson and freshman Dereon Coleman.
This story was originally published January 20, 2026 at 1:58 PM.
