Duke Reaches Settlement With QB Darian Mensah, Clearing Path For Miami Transfer After Landmark NIL Lawsuit

Darian Mensah is now free to play football elsewhere next season after his attorneys reached a settlement agreement with Duke, just two days before both sides were scheduled to meet in a courtroom. 

After signing a 2-year deal when he transferred to Duke, which paid him around $4 million annually, Mensah decided it was best for him to transfer following the 2025 season. But, this came with a massive bump in the road for the Duke quarterback. 

When Darian announced his intentions just hours before the transfer portal was set to close, his move sent Shockwaves through the college football world, given the timing. It was widely known that Miami was looking for a quarterback to replace Carson Beck next season, but pulling off this move would certainly take a few lawyers to navigate. 

NCAA Officials Want Alabama Judge In Charles Bediako Case To Recuse Himself. Maybe They’ll Get An Auburn Fan

Then, Duke decided it would sue Mensah in a North Carolina court, arguing that the quarterback had breached his revenue-share agreement by intending to transfer before his contract had expired on the final day of 2026. 

The situation from there got messy, with a judge granting a TRO that allowed Mensah to enter the transfer portal, but it came with a few stipulations. 

In the response, the judge said that the Duke quarterback could not sign with a different school, nor could he sign over any NIL rights before the two sides met in a hearing to discuss the case that was scheduled for next week. 

Essentially, Darian Mensah was stuck between actually entering the portal and signing with a new school. Duke held the rights to anything related to NIL, and that would mean that he would technically still be under contract with the Blue Devils, even if he were to transfer to a school like Miami. 

I hope you're starting to see why this type of case was so complicated, which is also why it was the first of its kind. 

Duke Reaches Financial Settlement With Mensah, Paving Way For Transfer

Though it took all parties a while to resolve, given the financial ramifications pertaining to his name, image and likeness, all sides reached an agreement on Tuesday morning. 

Duke released the following statement regarding the resolution. 

"We are committed to fulfilling all promises and obligations Duke makes to our student-athletes when we enter into contractual agreements with them, and we expect the same in return," Duke University noted. "Enforcing those agreements is a necessary element of ensuring predictability and structure for athletic programs. It is nonetheless a difficult choice to pursue legal action against a student and teammate. For this reason, we sought to resolve the matter fairly and quickly.   

"Duke remains dedicated to the welfare of all student-athletes, and we appreciate them for the talent, dedication, and commitment to excellence they demonstrate both on and off the field.  We also remain committed to upholding the integrity of our athletics programs and institutional guidelines. We thank Darian for his contributions to Duke University."

Yes, this means Duke received a financial buyout that suited the university in the long term, which it can now use to pay current athletes on the roster, or last-minute additions. 

In his response, Mensah's attorney, Darren Heitner, called this a "fair resolution" regarding the settlement. 

Now, given that Darian Mensah will owe Duke an undisclosed amount from the settlement, you can expect him to sign a lucrative deal with his next school (Miami) that will offset any sort of large financial loss from the agreement with his former school. 

Deion Sanders Fining Colorado Players’ NIL Money For Missed Events, Sparking Legal Questions

We had not seen a school go the route of a lawsuit of this magnitude against a player pertaining to the player's NIL contract, but clearly Duke was not willing to just let him go with a straightforward ‘buyout’ so he could transfer to a rival school. 

Sources tell OutKick that Miami was not involved in the financial buyout terms of the settlement with Duke, but you can expect the Hurricanes to write him a nice check for his services this upcoming season.