Highest-paid player in college football history? Transfer QB Darian Mensah's Duke deal is sign of times

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MisterGopher

MisterGopher

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A three-star high school prospect two years ago out of California, Darian Mensah hit the transfer portal with an eye-popping asking price that perhaps best illustrated what name, image and likeness has turned into within college football.

The Tulane redshirt freshman quarterback had a strong year, throwing for 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while leading the Green Wave to a 9-4 record. When he entered the transfer portal Dec. 8, amid rumors his coach, Jon Sumrall, could be on the move to another job, it was understandable to expect considerable interest in the young 6-foot-3, 200-pound quarterback. 247Sports ranked Mensah as the No. 7 quarterback and No. 72 overall prospect in the transfer portal.

What followed, however, speaks to a situation where money has flooded in from all corners and players hitting the market have never benefited more. According to sources around college football, Mensah received a deal from Duke that is believed to pay him $8 million over two years. A $4 million annual average would make him the highest-paid player in college football history, unofficially. A year ago, the going rate for a top-of-the-market quarterback like Cam Ward, who went from Washington State to Miami, or Riley Leonard, who left Duke for Notre Dame, was a little less than half that.
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A $4 million annual salary would put Mensah on par or higher than nine base salaries of Power Four head coaches in 2024, according to USA Today's coaching salary database. That includes Big 12-winning Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham, Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea and the recently-fired West Virginia coach Neal Brown.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...qb-darian-mensahs-duke-deal-is-sign-of-times/
 






I personally just don’t believe these numbers. I have first and second hand knowledge on some numbers and what you hear and what they get are not close. Like one player was getting 1 million and it was 150k in actuality. I mean, still a lot of money but that’s a big difference. Maybe it’s different this time but I’m not convinced.

I do know some of these appearances are pretty lucrative. So maybe that’s the difference?
 

unionize the players/make a cba, make them employees, give them a salary cap, all the teams can just have a gm that negotiates contracts, go from there. this is just stupid. the reason it doesn't happen in the NFL (and you can't tell me throwing an extra 4mil outside of the bounds of the salary cap wouldn't be lucrative for guys) is because you've put in guard rails. Mensah, who most people have no idea who he is, does not provide 4mil in "value" to the university for his image. this shit is just irritating and continues to let those, the schools, who are reaping off the backs of players completely avoid having any accountability for it
 


upnorthkid said:
unionize the players/make a cba, make them employees, give them a salary cap, all the teams can just have a gm that negotiates contracts, go from there. this is just stupid. the reason it doesn't happen in the NFL (and you can't tell me throwing an extra 4mil outside of the bounds of the salary cap wouldn't be lucrative for guys) is because you've put in guard rails. Mensah, who most people have no idea who he is, does not provide 4mil in "value" to the university for his image. this shit is just irritating and continues to let those, the schools, who are reaping off the backs of players completely avoid having any accountability for it
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I don’t disagree.

But if Mensah leads Duke to the CFP, that’s worth far more than $4 million. Does fleck provide $6 million in “value” to the university for his image? Once you salary cap players, coaches and administrators will get the same treatment. No one wants that.
 




If true, where is the value proposition for any of this? Duke is not going to compete for National championship.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I don’t disagree.

But if Mensah leads Duke to the CFP, that’s worth far more than $4 million. Does fleck provide $6 million in “value” to the university for his image? Once you salary cap players, coaches and administrators will get the same treatment. No one wants that.
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that's not what he's being compensated for though, right? he's being compensated for NIL, PJ is being compensated for the value he provides in being a head coach. If you decide you're paying him for playing, then you can compensate him whatever you as the school/AD/GM decide you want to pay. That's the point of why this system as it is currently being used/allocated is ridiculous.
 

1983 said:
If true, where is the value proposition for any of this? Duke is not going to compete for National championship.
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After seeing SMU get through the ACC, the pathway outside of the B10 and SEC will have upshots who contend to get in every year and it will also happen rarely in those conferences.
 



Most of these numbers are straight up lies.
 

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