The college football world completely lost its darn mind when quarterback Darian Mensah dumped Duke for Miami. On paper, it looked like a classic cash grab because Miami rolled out an $8 million NIL bag to get him out of Durham.

And since he broke a multi-year contract with Duke to make the move, folks immediately labeled him as a mercenary who only cared about the money. Fast forward to today, Mensah and his family revealed the actual reason for the transfer, and it turns out it had very little to do with the money the Hurricanes offered!

“I think the biggest thing was seeing what the last two quarterbacks at Miami really did,” he said in an interview with Locked On Canes on YouTube. “Going into the NFL and being a top five pick. Cam [Ward] did two years ago [Miami Hurricanes]. I think those were two of the two of the biggest reasons as to why I transferred.

“But also just the opportunity to compete for a national championship was also a big one for me as well.”

Apparently, Mensah is walking the path of Cam Ward. The Tennessee Titans QB transferred from Washington State to Miami after the 2023 season to have a better shot at a national championship.

Even though Ward fell short of his natty dream, with most of the blame falling on the Canes’ 2024 defense, he used OC Shannon Dawson’s system to skyrocket his draft stock all the way to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Mensah also saw how Carson Beck used Miami to rehab his image and make a national title run. Now the Hurricanes have all the ingredients to compete for a natty and help turn Mensah’s NFL superstar dream come true. That’s worth more than any NIL produced at the college level for the player.

However, when another reporter claimed that Mensah had ditched Duke at the last second for an $8 million check, despite posting a video promising to stay for his fans, his mom, Naomi Brebes-Mensah, went off on that narrative.

She basically told everyone to pipe down because “there was money either way”.

Naomi reminded the critics and naysayers that her son wasn’t exactly hurting for cash at Duke.

“We looked at the big picture of where Darian wants to go. That ultimately was the choice. What was going to get him to his end goal? He could go and win the ACC again, but could he get to a natty and win the Heisman?” Naomi said.

But things didn’t stop here. The Duke even filed an unprecedented lawsuit trying to block him from leaving over his NIL deal, though both sides eventually settled the beef.

When asked about this lawsuit, Mensah dropped a banger one-liner.

Mensah casually told the media, “Business is business.”

He explained that college football is a professional industry now, and players have to look out for their own long-term health and careers just like coaches do.