A star transfer's injury reshapes Duke's quarterback race, opening a surprising path to the starting job for another promising contender.
The Duke Blue Devils had to deal with an unfortunate shock this offseason when quarterback Darian Mensah decided to transfer to Miami weeks after leading his team to the ACC championship.
Mensah transferred to Duke from Tulane before the 2025 season and made great progress with the team, leading a five-loss program to an upset win over Virginia in the ACC championship.
Mensah is expected to be a top quarterback in college football last season, so his loss will be huge for Duke.
The Blue Devils have had a quarterback competition with Walker Eget, Dan Mahan, Ari Patu, and Terry Walker III.
Eget, a transfer from San Jose State, was thought to be the likely guy to win the starting job this fall. However, Paul Myerberg of USA Today is reporting that a knee injury has slowed the progress of Eget in the offense this spring.
Mahan could earn the starting job unless Eget gets up to speed in training camp this summer.
"Duke lost rising junior and projected starter Darian Mensah to Miami just as the portal closed this winter," Myerberg wrote. "In response, the Blue Devils signed San Jose State transfer Walker Eget, who went for 5,555 yards and 30 touchdowns the past two seasons and was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.
"Eget has been slowed by knee surgery, however. That could give Mahan a small window to make a move in this competition; the Blue Devils’ coaches are high on the redshirt freshman."
Eget has been limited during Duke's 15 spring practices, so that's really working against his favor as he needs to learn a new offensive system and build chemistry with his offensive line and receivers.
Mahan could be the starter in Week 1, and Duke head coach Manny Diaz was excited to see how he could make progress during spring practice.
The Blue Devils recently gave Diaz a contract extension, and the program expects to remain competitive after a strong end to the 2025 campaign. How they do in 2026 could come down to how ready Mahan or Eget are to lead the offense.