Duke sues quarterback Darian Mensah over transfer portal request, NIL contract
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Duke filed suit seeking arbitration and to bar Mensah from signing.
- Duke alleges Mensah breached a two-year $4M-per-year NIL contract.
- Judge denied immediate portal injunction; next hearing set for Feb. 2.
Duke might be losing quarterback Darian Mensah to the NCAA’s transfer portal and another school, but not without a legal fight.
The university filed suit Tuesday claiming Mensah and his legal representatives must be held to an arbitration hearing, and that Mensah not be able to sign with another school until such arbitration is held.
The suit was signed by Nina King, Duke’s director of athletics. The university is being represented by Womble Bond Dickinson, a law firm with offices in Raleigh and Charlotte.
Mensah was a transfer to Duke from Tulane after the 2024 season, and several media outlets reported he signed a contract for a two-year NIL package that would pay $4 million a year to the San Luis Obispo, California, native.
According to court documents related to Duke’s lawsuit, Mensah agreed to the deal in December 2024 and signed it last July upon the NCAA’s settlement of the House case. That settlement allowed schools to pay players directly.
Mensah, 20, was the ACC passing leader with 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns as the Blue Devils won the 2025 ACC championship, then the Sun Bowl, to finish 9-5. He was a second-team All-ACC selection.
While the NCAA transfer portal opened Jan. 2, Mensah already had announced Dec. 19 on social media that he intended to remain at Duke for a second season, completing the two-year contract.
But Mensah changed course. On Jan. 16, just before the portal closed, he informed Duke officials he would be entering the portal and would be leaving Duke. There has been media speculation he is being pursued by Miami, which lost to Indiana on Monday night in the College Football Playoff title game in Miami.
Mensah’s attorney, Darren Heitner, told ESPN on Tuesday that superior court judge Michael O’Foghludha denied Duke’s request to enjoin Mensah’s portal entry. ESPN reported O’Foghluda has recused himself from any future judicial hearings on the suit.
Heitner posted on X that the next injunction hearing would be held Feb. 2 before a new judge.
In the meantime, Duke has until Wednesday to fulfill Mensah’s request to enter his name in the NCAA transfer portal.
The Duke lawsuit claims Mensah, by saying he would leave, repudiated the contract with the school. The suit said: “But contracts mean something.” The lawsuit said that if Mensah is allowed to enter the portal, Duke’s “ability to seek relief is irreparably harmed.”
Duke claims Mensah’s NIL agreement with the school prevented him or his legal team from disclosing the NIL financial terms, trying to license his NIL value to another school or enrolling in another school or talking to the athletic staff at another school.
After Mensah’s announcement that he would stay at Duke, backup quarterback Henry Belin IV entered the portal. The Blue Devils are in the position to trying to sign a replacement for Mensah.
This story was originally published January 20, 2026 at 4:15 PM.
