In the current era of college football, NIL numbers get thrown out there like never before. Numbers getting thrown around is fine for fans, but the reality is that 99% of what we see isn’t true. Frankly, we really have no idea what players are getting.
That’s exactly what happened recently surrounding Duke quarterback transfer Darian Mensah, whose name became the center of a rumored $10 million NIL deal from the University of Miami.
Again, while we don’t know what he’s getting, it doesn’t sound like $10 million is even close to his deal, if he ends up with the Hurricanes.
According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, that figure isn’t true.
Speaking about the situation, Feldman pushed back on the idea that Mensah was in line for anything close to that type of deal, stating that it was all social media speculation.
“I mean, for today, so talking to some Miami sources. There were some numbers that can’t, that you know, again, it’s the internet and people flow, right?” Feldman said, per PFN.
“You know, at one point, somebody had said, ‘Oh, it was going to be $10 million for,’ which sounded preposterous. You know Darian Mensah is a good quarterback. Darian Mensah is not like what Michael Vic was at Virginia Tech. From talking to some Miami sources, they did not think that was close to accurate, that it was way more than what could be in play here.”
Mensah, while talented, isn’t someone who should get $10 million, and it remains uncertain if any quarterback in the country is actually getting that much.
The NIL landscape has changed a ton in favor of players, and while deals remain massive, programs also have to worry about the rest of their roster. Miami seems to have a lot of money, but that doesn’t mean it wants to give $10 million to one player.
Mensah leaving doesn’t help Duke at all and only puts it in a brutal position, but this is the harsh reality of college football. Unless Duke can get to a point where it can pay these guys as much as they think they’re worth, the Blue Devils will continue to be a decent but not great team in the ACC.