Darian Mensah expects a much different Yulman Stadium awaiting him Saturday when he leads Duke into uptown New Orleans.
The former Tulane quarterback wowed fans uptown in 2024 with his breakout performance as a redshirt freshman and the intrigue of what his future might hold, but opted in the winter to enter the transfer portal and accept an offer to join the Blue Devils.
Now, just three weeks into the new season, Mensah has returned no longer in olive and in a new shade of blue.
“Yeah, I’ll probably be the opposite of a fan favorite this week,” he joked to reporters this week. “But I’ve got a lot of great memories in Yulman. Like I said, it’s gonna be a little weird being on the opposite sideline, but I’m excited for this matchup this week.”
Mensah used the word “weird” at least three times during Duke’s media availability to discuss the matchup, but his longest answer on the topic came when he expressed his gratitude for his time with his former team.
“Tulane was awesome,” he said. “A lot of fun over there in New Orleans. I think what makes that place special is those coaches over there. They really care about their players and how they’re doing. So I’d say that’s the hardest part is leaving those relationships behind. But Tulane was great to me. It gave me an opportunity to be where I’m at right now. And I’m extremely grateful for those guys. And, like I said, coach (Jon) Sumrall’s a phenomenal head coach, and I’m excited to go play him this week.”
Both Mensah, Sumrall and one coach and player after another emphasized that other focuses are far bigger prioritizes than the reunion storyline that will command most headlines.
“I’ve got nothing but love for Darian,” Sumrall said. “It is unique playing a guy you had on your team a year ago. But when you turn the tape on, it’s not just, ‘Hey, a former player.’ I’m looking at this receiving crew, and I’m watching No. 7 (Que’Sean Brown), 2 (Sahmir Hagans), 1 (Andrel Anthony) and 18 (Cooper Barkate). This No. 18 kid from Harvard is a headache. And their backs are good. Their O-line works well together. They’re big. It’s by far the most challenging opponent. It’s not even close.
“And then their D-line, this No. 7 (Vincent Anthony Jr.) they’ve got on defense. Both No. 7’s for them on offense and on defense, this edge player they’ve got, he’s an elite player. So there will be a lot I know made of Darian’s return. It’s Tulane vs. Duke. It’s not Tulane vs. one player. And they’ve got a lot of good players all over the field.”
Regardless of opponent, both Tulane and Duke would be fixed this week on improving on shortcomings from Week 2.
The Green Wave started slowly at South Alabama and saw a big lead dwindle to just two points sophomore defensive back Javion White had to preserve with an intercepted conversion attempt.
The Blue Devils meanwhile suffered a sizable loss at home to No. 9 Illinois, 45-19.
“We have a tremendous challenge this week, a really good opponent, talented team all across the board at all different positions, a handful to get prepared for,” Sumrall said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. Excited to be able to play back at home, a night game. Should be fun environment. But we’ve got a lot of work to do. This is a really good opponent.”
Tulane has the benefit of a veteran quarterback in BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff — or duo of them with Iowa transfer Brendan Sullivan also in the mix for snaps.
Retzlaff admitted that the Green Wave’s recent track record of quarterback success with Michael Pratt, then Mensah was an intriguing factor when choosing a new program this summer.
But, beyond that, he largely brushed aside the emphasis of framing Saturday as a head-to-head matchup between the two passers.
“I know he’s a good player and I know he played here and I know the history behind it, but I wasn’t here when he was here,” he said. “So I know he’s a good player, but for me, it’s just going against Duke’s defense this week. Everybody likes to draw the comparison between quarterbacks, but in reality I’ve got very little to do with what he does on the field Saturday.”
Sumrall and the staff and players know that containing or slowing Mensah — or any talented quarterback who would have been coming to town — will be a critical to success.
Mensah has completed 50 of his 68 passes (73.5%) in his first two games for Duke for 723 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.
“I’ve played against him — I’ve picked him off, he’s scored on us,” sophomore safety Jack Tchienchou said. “It’s kinda gone back and forth before, but I feel like we know that he’s gonna throw the ball. He wants to put the ball in the air, and it’s kinda gonna be on the back end to make things right. So there’s kind of a chip on our shoulder this game’s gonna come down to whether our defense can cover or not.”
Sumrall praised Mensah’s “great accuracy, touch and anticipation” downfield and said he appears to have continued improving his arm strength year over year to be able to make any throw on the field.
And more so than any added edge the Green Wave may bring into the matchup, he said the team’s execution will be critical to potentially adding a second win against a Power-Four opponent in just three weeks.
“People around campus are gonna talk about it, and people around town are gonna talk about it,” Sumrall said. “I think you want guys amped up for every game. The thing is you have to focus on doing your job really well. You don’t win a game just off of emotion. Now, this is an emotional game. You have to play it with passion, energy, enthusiasm to play it the right way. But you can also go too far the other direction and get maybe a little bit off and play in a manner that’s not characteristic of being focused on doing your job the right way.”