Mario Cristobal made several school records with their 13-win season. Miami won both the Fiesta and Cotton Bowl and also its first CFP appearance in school history. But the head coach also isn’t acting like it was some miracle year. And to pull that run again, he already knows where his confidence lies. 

“He’s a difference maker,” Mario Cristobal said when asked about adding QB Darian Mensah. “He leads a room that has a lot of young difference makers as well. And we’re putting all the right pieces around him, so by now you know how we do it, right? We keep our heads down, we work really hard, we make that roster the best it could possibly be, and let’s go play Miami Hurricane football.”

Darian Mensah wanted in badly enough that he sued Duke to make the transfer happen. Now that the legal issues are cleared, he’s in Coral Gables and widely expected to start in 2026. Last season at Duke, he threw for 3,973 yards and 34 TDs. That’s an improvement from 2024 at Tulane when he threw for 2,723 yards and 22 TDs as a freshman. But one lingering issue here is the interception rate. Both seasons ended with six picks. 

Mario Cristobal compared parts of Darian Mensah’s game to Cam Ward, the Heisman finalist who went No. 1 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

“I think you see some of (Ward’s) game in him,” he said. “But he’s his own unique player also. Man, he’s so accurate. So mobile. On the run, on script, off script, down the field, intermediate, short, quick-game, screen-game, making things happen with his feet. And he has an incredible personality.”

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The 6’3, 205 pound QB from San Luis Obispo, California is not Cam Ward. But you can see the archetype Miami is chasing. Mario Cristobal wants QBs who are experienced, mobile, and comfortable outside structure. You can see it in his previous portal QBs. Ward, Carson Beck, and now Darian Mensah. And he isn’t hiding the expectations. 

“It is kind of neat, we have a lot of 1,000s,” he said on The Joe Rose Show on WQAM. “We have a 4,000 (QB) here, Mark Fletcher 1,000 (RB), Malachi Toney 1,000 (WR), so let’s keep adding some more, and we should be alright.”

Mark Fletcher coming back might be the most important piece of all. A lot of people thought he’d enter the 2026 NFL Draft. But he didn’t, which Mario Cristobal called “unfinished business.” 

Miami returns a core that already handled the pressure of a CFP run. The Canes’ had seven wins over AP Top 25 teams. They’re state champions with a 24-14 win over defending national champ Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl as a double-digit underdog. That game changed how people view Mario Cristobal’s program nationally. And the next season is going to be no different with Darian Mensah. 

Mario Cristobal is building around Darian Mensah 

Miami lost four OL starters to the NFL in James Brockermeyer, Anez Cooper, Markel Bell and Francis Mauigoa. So Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal are basically rebuilding the front five. The head coach says there’s “no hesitation” about the next group. Matthew McCoy, Samson Okunlola and Ryan Rodriguez all played double-digit games last season in rotation roles and are being labeled “staple veterans.” 

Mario Cristobal added Jamal Meriweather from Georgia who allowed one pressure in 12 games while 6’4, 315 pounder Johnathan Cline transferred in from East Tennessee State. Then there’s 5-star OT Jackson Cantwell, a Gatorade Player of the Year who reportedly logged 459 pancake blocks in 45 HS games. 

There are no shortage of bodies here. Seuseu Alofaituli, Max Buchanan, Jaden Wilkerson, Demetrius Campbell, and Yerovi Valdes Alfonso will also compete during spring. But the mission is to protect Darian Mensah. Miami opens 2026 with a road game on September 4 at Stanford.