Hurricanes’ Mario Cristobal gives first public thoughts on new QB Darian Mensah
It’s safe to say Mario Cristobal is excited about the Miami Hurricanes’ latest veteran quarterback addition.
For the third consecutive season, Cristobal and the Hurricanes used the transfer portal to pick up their starting quarterback — first Washington State’s Cam Ward in 2024, then Georgia’s Carson Beck last season and now Duke’s Darian Mensah for the 2026 season.
Speaking Monday morning on WQAM’s Joe Rose Show in his first public interview since Mensah formally chose to transfer to Miami on Jan. 27, Cristobal sung the praises of his newest signal caller, who last season at Duke completed 66.8% of his passes for 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns with six interceptions.
“He was deadly accurate,” Cristobal said. “Just creating explosive plays on schedule, off schedule, pocket presence. After meeting him, unbelievable personality, made of the right stuff, [an] alpha. And you know what? He’s the right guy not only for us to go and continue to get better, [but] he’s also the right guy to help develop that young quarterback room because that young quarterback room is really impressive. We think those guys are going to be great players. So I mean, it’s kind of the same as the previous quarterbacks. You surround them with an elite supporting cast [and] you have a great chance for success. So we can’t wait to watch him cut it loose, man.”
The path to landing Mensah was a long one. The Hurricanes initially targeted Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby and Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt in the portal. Both opted to go elsewhere, with Sorsby signing with Texas Tech and Leavitt going to LSU.
UM then pursued Alabama’s Ty Simpson, trying to get him to stay in college in extra year instead of heading to the NFL Draft. Those efforts proved futile, as well.
And then Mensah entered the portal on Jan. 16, the final day that players on teams not participating in the national championship game were allowed to enter the portal. UM became the immediate favorite to land him.
But Duke did what it could to try to prevent him from transferring, including filing a lawsuit claiming Mensah would not be able to leave Duke because of his existing name, image and likeness deal with the school (Mensah had one year left on a two-year deal after transferring to Duke from Tulane ahead of the 2025 season). Duke and Mensah ultimately reached a settlement on Jan. 27, paving the way for him to commit to and enroll at Miami.
“You’ve got to wait until they get in the portal,” Cristobal said in general of Miami’s efforts to find a quarterback in the transfer portal. “That’s the bottom line. You hear this guy might, that guy might [enter], but when they do, you’ve got to go and you’ve got to go hard, you’ve got to go fast. And just felt that [Mensah] was the best one.”
UM has had success the past two seasons with transfer quarterbacks.
Ward rewrote UM’s single-season record book in 2024, setting school marks for completions (305), passing yards (4,313), passing touchdowns (39) and completion percentage (67.2%). Miami went 10-3 that season as Ward orchestrated the nation’s top-ranked offense, but a flimsy defense foiled their playoff hopes down the stretch of the regular season.
Beck broke Ward’s total completions (338) and completion percentage mark (72.4%) and finished second to him in passing yards (3,813) and touchdowns (30) while leading Miami to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, beating higher-ranked teams in Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss along the way before UM ultimately lost 27-21 to the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers in the title game on Jan. 19.
Now, the Hurricanes are looking to Mensah to mirror that success.
Behind Mensah on Miami’s depth chart will be third-year quarterback Judd Anderson, second-year quarterback Luke Nickel and true freshman Dereon Coleman.
This story was originally published February 9, 2026 at 8:50 AM.
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