How Duke’s Darian Mensah has become a better quarterback this season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mensah leads ACC in passing yards (2,572) and touchdowns (21) this season.
- Coaches credit Mensah's improved decision-making and willingness to throw the ball away.
- Mensah engineered late 94-yard drive and hit two-point conversion to win at Clemson.
After Duke’s Darian Mensah had thrown a 43-yard touchdown pass to Que’Sean Brown and just before Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s full-blown sideline tirade, Jonathan Brewer had his moment.
Brewer is Duke’s offensive coordinator. He ordered up the post pattern from Mensah to Brown that gave the Blue Devils the score 11 seconds before halftime, then celebrated a little in the coaches’ box at Memorial Stadium.
“I was banging on the window, probably too much,” Brewer said Monday, smiling. “The fans in front of me held up a phone that said, ‘Please don’t bang on the window’ or something like that. But I get pretty animated, especially when we’re doing good things.”
Brewer has been beating on the glass a lot this season. Mensah leads the ACC and ranks among the national leaders in total passing yards (2,572) and passing yards per game (321.5). He has an ACC-best 21 touchdown throws against two interceptions – the last pickoff in the Tulane game on Sept. 13 -- and leads the ACC in passing efficiency at 166.67.
After throwing for 361 yards and four touchdowns in the Blue Devils’ 46-45 win over the Tigers, Mensah on Monday was named a Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Great 8 performer and Manning Award Star of the Week. The redshirt sophomore also was chosen the ACC quarterback of the week.
Duke coach Manny Diaz said the Devils (5-3 overall, 4-1 ACC), after their loss to Georgia Tech, would use their second open date of the season to “self-scout” every aspect of their play before the trip to Clemson.
Mensah making smart decisions
In Mensah’s case, it was convincing the redshirt sophomore that his best pass at times might be an incompletion, as odd as that might sound. It was stressed in video sessions and practices.
Asked about Mensah’s biggest improvement this season, Brewer said, “Probably his ability to throw the ball away.
“You look at his first five games of the season, and it showed up in our self scout, he didn’t do a good job of wasting the ball. Sometimes you call plays and the defense has a good bead on something, or you call something and maybe the quarterback misreads it. Instead of taking a sack or taking a loss on a scramble play or forcing it, just waste it.
“Give me another down to call a different play.”
That’s what Mensah did at Clemson. If the pass wasn’t there, he got rid of the ball, not risking anything in a tight game.
The deep pass to Brown late in the first half was a perfectly executed play. Brown put a double move on Clemson’s Khalil Barnes up the middle of the field and ran past the safety. Brown scored, then put his forefinger to his mouth to further shush the Clemson crowd.
Soon, Swinney was jumping into the defensive huddle on the sideline to have a few loud words. He started to let up, then lashed out again.
“We had mass protection and three verticals,” Brewer said of the play. “We had worked on it all week. We just felt like it was going to be an aggression play for (Clemson) and this was our best call to go attack it.”
Mensah then led an 11-play, 94-yard drive in the final minutes of the game for the winning score, completing six of eight passes for 83 yards. After Nate Sheppard’s short TD run, Mensah hit Sahmir Hagans for the two-point conversion and the 46-45 lead with 40 seconds remaining.
Swinney bemoaned the fact his team allowed too many big plays, notably Hagans’ 100-yard kickoff return for a score in the third period – “We had 11 guys covering the kickoff and nobody touched him,” Swinney said in a Sunday media teleconference call.
A calm, cool QB
But the Tigers couldn’t rattle Mensah. Few teams have. The transfer from Tulane was taken aback a bit by his reception when the Blue Devils played at Tulane in their third game, but his demeanor on the field generally has been one of calmness and composure.
“You can see the comfort level,” Diaz said Monday. “Possession downs really define quarterbacks, possession downs and red zones. Schemes are designed to get people open on first down, and the way Darian played on third and fourth down … in that game was just at another level.”
The Blue Devils, who had 439 yards in total offense at Clemson, were 3-for-14 on third-down conversions but 5-for-5 on fourth-down plays.
“I’ve got weapons all over the field,” Mensah said after the game. “We’ve got a cohesive unit that can all really play high level football.”
The Devils take a November break from the ACC schedule to face Connecticut (6-3) on the road Saturday.
“The easy thing to think is ‘OK, you’re out of conference’ but with Connecticut, if you put the film on, they jump off the tape,” Diaz said. “You look at the numbers on Connecticut and they jump off the sheet.”
The Huskies have had one turnover in nine games and quarterback Joe Fagnano, a 6-4 senior and Maine transfer, has 22 TD passes and no interceptions in 304 passing attempts.
“It’s hard to go into a game where a quarterback has better stats than ours in that category,” Diaz said.
Diaz said the Huskies have “exotic” defensive sets with a “high level of disguise.” They get after the quarterback, and attack pass protection well, the coach added, and are sound tacklers.
Sounds like another test for Mensah and the Duke offense. And Brewer, the window banger.
Of note: The Blue Devils will be without linebacker Elliott Schaper the remainder of the season, Diaz said Monday. Schaper, a freshman, was injured Saturday blocking on Hagans’ kickoff return TD.
Duke-UConn game info
Who: Duke (5-3 overall, 4-1 ACC) at Connecticut (6-3).
When: Saturday, Nov. 8, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, E. Hartford, Connecticut.
TV: CBS Sports Network.
Stream: fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV Stream, Sling TV.
Series history: Duke and UConn have played four times in the series with each winning twice. The Blue Devils took a 26-21 win in Durham last season and a 41-7 victory at UConn in 2023. The Huskies’ wins came in 2007 and 2004.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 10:54 AM.
