INSANE: Miami’s Darian Mensah SNUBBED in ESPN QB Rankings—Why He Should DOMINATE This Season

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I received an email today from a colleague.

The subject line simply said,

Yes, PN is insane.

When I clicked the link in the email,

and I saw what they did to Dary and Mensa,

I realized he's 1,000 percent right.

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I am Alex Dono, University of Miami alumnus, co-host of Locked on ACC

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On this episode, we'll talk about Miami's wide receiver core

because they've earned a distinction

from profile focus heading into the 2026 season

that no other school is getting.

But before we get to that,

I need to comment on something that

from a Miami point of view,

I can only describe this as rage bait,

which means I'm fully admitting.

I took the bait hook line and sinker.

They got me, but I can't just let this sit out there on the worldwide web

without commenting on it on how ridiculous I think it is.

Now, the email that I referenced came to be

from a very good friend of the show and colleague,

Brian Smith from the portal podcast and locked on semifinals.

And like I mentioned, he sent me this email.

ESPN is insane.

And in that email, he linked this story

written by Bill Connelly of ESPN.

Now, I don't have any personal beef with Bill.

Bill's really good at what he does.

He puts out some great material.

I don't have to agree with all of his material.

And I certainly don't agree with this one.

So Connelly put out his pre-spring quarterback rankings

for all 68 power for college football teams.

Now, you're thinking about where they could have

Darian Mensa ranked.

Keeping in mind, Mensa is widely considered a year in advance

to be a potential first round draft pick in 2027.

Mensa's on the short list as a high-smotrophy finalist

for the pre-season projections.

And I will also mention Darian Mensa,

statistically, what he did at Duke last season

was the nation's second leading passer.

Just under 4,000 yards, 3,973 passing yards

was tied for second nationally in passing touchdowns

with 34.

And along with that, one of the better touchdown

and interception ratios you will ever see at 34 to 6.

Darian Mensa was eighth nationally in total points

responsible for by almost any metric.

This guy was a top five, if not better,

quarterback in the country last year.

By any way, you want to measure it or slice it.

And that was on a team that largely due to his contributions.

They did win the ACC last year.

But on a team that didn't have as many weapons

as he's now going to have at Miami versus what he had with Duke.

Not only receivers, but also running backs,

one of the best running back rooms in the country.

And Duke also didn't have the sort of defense

to play complimentary football that he's going to have.

In short, he's walking into a better situation at Miami,

which means he will probably, or at least possibly, to be fair,

have a bigger impact this year at the University of Miami

than what he had at Duke now that he's got a better team around him.

So again, with that set, where do you think Bill Connelly

ranked Darien Mensa?

You're probably thinking, oh, you know, top five, top three,

is it possible he's number one?

Number 11 is where they rank Mensa.

Now, before I tell you who's in front of him in those rankings,

and ironically enough, some of those quarterbacks in front of him,

Miami maybe had the chance to get in the transfer portal,

but they preferred Mensa.

And some of those quarterbacks in front of him

clearly didn't put up the numbers he put up last year.

And also ironic, Miami beat head to head,

which has nothing to do with Mensa.

But several of the quarterbacks who were listed in front of them,

Miami beat head to head last year,

just kind of as a fun side effect of all this.

So Darien Mensa at number 11,

and this is what Connelly writes about Mensa.

You know, 76.6 QBR,

3,973 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, six interceptions,

66.8% completion rate,

11.9 yards per completion, 156 non-sac rushing yards,

and one rushing touchdown, so 35 total touchdowns.

He writes, he certainly didn't do his old team,

any favors in entering the portal in mid-January.

But Mensa now lands with the defending national runner up,

where he'll have a chance to lead,

to team with Malachitone Mark Fletcher Jr. in company.

Why does that first sentence make me feel like

they're punishing him a little bit for, you know,

leaving Duke very late in the transfer portal, you know,

saying he certainly didn't do his old team, any favors.

So here's who's ranked in front of Darien Mensa.

Number 10, just makes me laugh.

Number, ranked a spot in front of Darien Mensa.

Byron Brown, the former USF quarterback

who's transferring to Auburn.

Now, okay, maybe my judgements clouded a little bit

because Miami went head-to-head, again,

not Mensa on the field, but Miami went head-to-head

with Brown the last couple of years

and made him look very ordinary

when he was going up against a very good defense.

He was playing at a group of six program

with Miami being the top team that he faced

the last couple of years, and yes,

I do include the time he faced Alabama.

And Miami made him look very, very ordinary.

Now, Brown did, he really improved his accuracy

from 2024 into 2025, but ask yourself,

and I researched this,

where's Byron Brown projected to be drafted next year?

It's not in the first round.

Third, fourth round picks something like that.

So I mean, and yeah, he gets to team up

with his former head coach at Auburn,

but to me, ranking Byron Brown and know

his numbers were not as good as Mensa's last year,

except for the rushing stats,

but the passing not nearly as good,

about 800 and some less passing yards,

six less passing touchdowns,

through an extra interception.

The completion percentage was not as good,

but they ranked Byron Brown higher than Mensa.

Number nine is Brennan Soarsby.

Soarsby, I think Soarsby belongs in the top 10.

I have no beef with that.

I could argue Mensa could be ranked higher,

but I'm not upset about the Soarsby one at Cincinnati.

Number eight, Gunner Stockton from Georgia.

I mean, we're all paying the Georgia tax on that one.

Gunner Stockton is not a better quarterback

than Dary and Mensa.

He's very efficient.

He's like a point guard playing quarterback.

He doesn't have the same ability to attack down field,

because Mensa remember led the nation

with 86 attempts last year of 20 or more air yards

and had a lot of success with the deep ball.

Dary and Mensa to me is just a much more complete quarterback,

but of course, you play for Georgia.

You're going to be a media darling.

It always goes that way.

Number seven, Drew Mestemaker,

who he put up video game numbers last year at North Texas.

Like Mestemaker, Mestemaker was actually the only quarterback

in FBS football, the only one who threw from more passing yards

than Mensa did last year at over 4,300.

That was at North Texas.

He threw for the same number of touchdowns with 34,

but here's the problem with Mestemaker.

And obviously, again, the guy was playing a video game

on easy mode at North Texas last year.

Not only is he making the step up to the power four,

but he's joining one of the worst power four rosters

in America and Bill Connelly even admitted that

in his article that you're going to take

the most prolific passer from the group of six.

What happens when you put him on the worst power four roster?

I can't imagine he's going to have the Mensa impact

when he's walking into that situation

versus the one that Mensa is walking into.

Dante Moore at number six, the Oregon quarter balsam.

I'm fine with that.

Again, like if you really want to nitpick the numbers,

you could argue Mensa could be higher.

I mean, Moore, I'm actually still surprised

that Moore didn't want to go to the NFL

because he would have been a high draft pick,

but a limited amount of starts under his belt.

He wanted to get another year of seasoning.

Moore threw for about 400 and some fewer passing yards.

Four fewer touchdowns and three,

four more interceptions than Mensa did last year.

Jayden Mayava at USC, I mean, 24 and 10,

the touchdown interception ratio, 3,700 passing yards.

Completion percentage was not as good as Mensa's.

I think Miami's going to be better than USC this year.

So I could argue that one a little bit.

Number four, I mean, I quit.

Archmaning at number four.

The media hasn't finished pretending

that Archmaning is Peyton Manning.

Got to break it to you guys.

Last year should have been a wake up call.

And yeah, Arch can run and he does have Cam Coleman this year,

but how you can project Arch being better than Darian Mensa,

it's silly to me.

Because again, you have to remember Mensa's escape ability,

his ability to extend plays, but also his ability

to play the short game, the versatility.

Mensa to me is criminally underrated at number 11.

Trinidad Chamblis at number three.

Another one that he's doing everything he can not to go pro.

The NCAA is appealing again to keep him from staying

at Ole Miss.

Trinidad Chamblis again, I think he belongs on this list

probably in the top five.

I get it.

He threw for only 35 fewer yards than Mensa did.

22 touchdowns to three interceptions.

That ratio was awesome.

So I'm okay with Chamblis being where he is.

Julie and Saiyan at number two.

Saiyan to me does not have the sort of awareness

and ability to play under pressure that Mensa has is a big one.

And also, Saiyan, when he was putting up good numbers,

very efficient, completion percentage, huge at Ohio State,

has really only shown an ability to run an offense

at a snail's pace.

And any time Ohio State has needed to hurry up or play

from behind, which only happened a couple of times.

He was not up to that challenge.

And again, it hasn't performed well under pressure

the way that Mensa and some of the other ones have.

But, you know, Julie and Saiyan is on a great team

and he still has Jeremiah Smith.

So I can understand him being ranked high.

That's number two.

And then number one, CJ Carr from Notre Dame.

God, I can't wait to see he and Mensa go head to head

this upcoming season.

Listen, Carr had overall an awesome season.

Miami did rattle him at times

because we did most every quarterback we faced last year.

The thing about Carr is the big questions

he's got to answer this season.

How does he answer to the challenge

of really having to become the number one protagonist

on Notre Dame's offense?

Because he didn't have that last year.

Last year, he was able to lean on Jeremiah Love

and Jadari in price and the unbelievable outside

of when they faced Miami who kept them in check.

But how they were able to carry that offense.

It wasn't really Carr carrying the offense.

It was their rushing attack.

Both Love and Price are off to the NFL.

So Carr, like he didn't have to put up big numbers last year.

2700 passing yards.

That was, you know, 1200 and some fewer than Mensa.

24 touchdowns to six interceptions.

Mensa had a better completion percentage than Carr did last year.

So we'll see what Carr does with an increased role.

But receivers are good.

The offensive line is supposed to be really good

for Notre Dame this year.

But you've got at least an argument for Mensa

against every quarterback ranked in front of them.

A couple of them are ridiculous,

like Byron Brown and Arch Manning.

So leaving Mensa off the top 10 is indefensible.

Even leaving him out of the top five is surprising.

But hey, this is one of those scenarios where,

I don't know if this story is gonna make it

to Mario Cristobal's inbox the way it did to mine.

But this is bulletin board stuff.

This is chip on the shoulder type of stuff.

I'm sure somebody, maybe some of my listeners

will tag Mensa on social media with this article.

And it's gonna give him a big chip on the shoulder.

Cause again, to not have the guy who is walking into

an even better situation this year.

But last year, second in the nation in passing yards

tied for second in passing touchdowns,

eighth nationally and total points responsible for.

And yet your rank him outside the top 10,

the math ain't mathing folks.

You wanna keep it locked right here.

Now, another reason why I think Dary and Mensa

is gonna have great success at the U is the weaponry,

the receiving core that he has around him.

And we'll talk about a distinction they have gotten

that no other receiving core has.

You wanna keep it locked right here.

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Thank you for making locked on canes your first listen.

And I apologize for falling for the rage bait.

But again, like you can't look me in the eyes and tell me

that there are 10 quarterbacks in power for football

who are better than Darian Mensa right now.

Like you can't like you can't tell me that and expect it.

If you want to punish the guy for leaving Duke in a way

that you didn't like or maybe you don't like Miami

for whatever reason, because there are a lot of people

that don't, but you're really telling me

that all these quarterbacks are better than Darian Mensa.

Chip on the shoulder is gonna be massive this year folks.

And yeah, listen, for Mensa to have success this year,

of course we're hoping Miami's offensive line

with four new starters can reach the levels of domination

they had for the last couple of years.

I believe in their talent.

I certainly believe in their coaching.

It's just a matter of new starters.

Guys like Jackson Cantwell who probably be a starter this year.

A guy like Max Buchanan who may become a first time starter

and Matt McCoy, Samson Okunola taking on bigger roles.

Brian Rodriguez gets the opportunity

to be a full time starter in his sixth year.

Like you need these guys to prove it out there.

But I trust Mensa's gonna have excellent protection

and he's certainly gonna have weapons

from the running back room headlines

by Mark Fletcher Jr.

We'd like to see Tight End take a step forward

in the passing game, but crazy thing is,

even if they don't, like even if Tight Ends

don't take a big step forward as receivers

this year compared to last year,

Miami is so loaded at wide out.

Mensa's gonna have plenty of options.

And our friends at Pro Football Focus College,

I think this was penned by my guy Max Chadwick

who was just on the show earlier this week.

We love Max.

He put out and these are largely analytics based

as PFF does it.

His top 10 returning wide receivers

for the 2026 season.

Top 10 with one honorable mention, okay?

Number one, not surprisingly,

Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State.

But number two on his list, Malachi Tony

from the University of Miami.

He says while they weren't quite as dominant

as Jeremiah Smith's 2024 campaign,

Tony's numbers from this past year

are up there with the best seasons

from a true freshman wide receiver

in college football history.

Like Smith in 2024, he was the most valuable

wide out in America according to our wins

above average metrics.

Tony's 841 yards after the catch

were the most in FBS as were his 33 forced mistakels

after the catch.

That was incredible.

The former three star recruit also led the nation

with 58 receptions that went either

for a first down or a touchdown.

That's clutch.

While his 1211 receiving yards were second

to only Smith in the power four,

not to mention Tony reclassified in high school

and should only be earning his freshman year this upcoming

or entering his freshman year, this upcoming season.

That's incredible.

So then you've got KJ Duff from Rutgers,

Mario Craver from Texas A&M,

Cam Cole Mettit, Texas, Ryan Williams at Bama,

Deuce Robinson at Florida State,

Charlie Becker from Indiana,

Amari Thomas from Houston,

and Wyatt Young from Oklahoma State.

Now, none of the schools on this list

have two receivers in the top 10,

but here's what Miami does have,

the only honorable mention

who's essentially a co-ten in Cooper Barcade.

So Miami, if you go by the top 11,

Miami is the only school with two receivers mentioned

and I think I can make an argument.

I'm not as upset about this one as I was

about Mensa being left out of the top 10 for quarterbacks,

but I think I could even make an argument

for Cooper Barcade being top 10

because he put up bigger receiving numbers

than a lot of the guys ranked in front of him.

And you know, listen,

Tony put up crazy numbers, but he had 16 games.

What did Jeremiah Smith have 14, 15 games?

Cooper Barcade played 13 games this past season.

For his honorable mention,

he spent the first three years of his career at Harvard

and tallied 1,084 receiving yards

during the final season of his career with the Crimson.

He transferred to Duke for 2025.

It was even more productive,

placing fifth in the power five

with a little over 1,100 receiving yards.

Barcade followed his starting quarterback,

Darian Mensa to Miami this off season.

He and Malachi Tony form arguably

the best receiver duo in the countries.

How about that?

Best receiver duo in the country,

Malachi Tony and Cooper Barcade.

And as we talked about this morning, you know,

things that we're looking for in spring ball,

who else is going to emerge?

Josh Moore,

is he gonna perhaps grab the starting X receiver spot

with his big body six foot four, 215 plus pounds,

his speed, his ability to create separation

but also fight for contested catches.

He had a lot of those,

including one handed grabs and practices last year.

You know, Cam Von, Dre Jacobs,

who both come in as highly touted transfers.

I know Barcade takes a lot of headlines away from those guys,

but they're both really, really good.

Dale and Upshaw and Miami also has some true freshmen

who I think can play.

You hear a lot of good off season workout buzz

about Samorian Wingo

and about Milan Paris and Vance Spafford.

Like Spafford is so fast running a 4-3-3.

You gotta wonder if we find ways to get him on the field

because that's crazy speed.

Maybe he gets opportunities to be a kick or punt return.

I mean, punt returning probably will be the Malachi Tony show

again, but maybe Vance Spafford,

if they trust him back there can get opportunities

to return kicks because he has absolute blazing speed.

So Miami, arguably the top receiver duo in the country

and allegedly not a top 10 quarterback.

We'll see about that one.

Thank you so much for making Locked on Canes.

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