Duke football hosts top-ranked transfer portal quarterback for a visit

The Duke Blue Devils lost quarterback Maalik Murphy to the transfer portal on Monday, but a potential replacement came to Durham on Tuesday.

Duke quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] won’t return to Durham for the 2025 season, but head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] and his staff might have a lead on his potential replacement.

ESPN senior writer Pete Thamel reported that former Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah scheduled a Tuesday visit with the Blue Devils, the first program he’s visited since entering the portal.

As of Tuesday morning, Mensah is 247Sports’ No. 3 overall transfer quarterback prospect. The redshirt freshman and former three-star prospect saw the field for the first time this season and looked remarkably productive, throwing for 2,723 yards and running for 132 more with 23 total touchdowns. He completed 65.9% of his passes and averaged 9.5 yards per attempt, only throwing six interceptions while tossing multiple touchdown passes in eight different games.

Mensah made waves ahead of this season when he beat out former Oregon Ducks quarterback Ty Thompson, a former top-100 prospect from the Class of 2021, for Tulane’s starting job. He guided Tulane to a 9-4 record and an appearance in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game.