There’s a scene in The Godfather in which Tessio, the character played by Abe Vigoda, realizes that he’s about to be whacked for betraying the Corleone family. As a last-ditch effort to save himself, he tries to justify his actions by saying that his betrayal was “only business.”
It’s a similar line to the one used by Darian Mensah at the ACC’s Football Kickoff in Charlotte last week to explain his controversial transfer from Duke to Miami.
And the result was just as unconvincing.
The star quarterback, who led the Blue Devils to a surprise conference championship last season, explained that his decision to break the two-year name, image and likeness (NIL) deal he signed with Duke, leave coach Manny Diaz scrambling for a replacement by entering the transfer portal at literally hours before it closed and sign with a conference rival for significantly more money, was strictly a business decision.
“Business is business,” is how he put it.
“Just seeing the type of roster Miami has, I wanted to compete for a national championship,” Mensah said. “I set a lot of personal goals for myself and I believe Miami is the spot to do that.”
Nobody is disputing the fact that the Hurricanes put Mensah in a much better position to challenge for a national title after making it all the way to the College Football Playoff (CFP) final last season. Or that he stood to benefit financially, both in the short and long term, by transferring to Miami.
Not only is his reported $10 million deal more than twice what he would have gotten had he stayed with the Blue Devils, but based on the NFL Draft performances of the Hurricanes’ two previous transfer quarterbacks, Cam Ward and Carson Beck, the move to South Florida also improved his pro prospects.
The point of contention, at least from Duke’s perspective, is that Mensah was already under contract with the Blue Devils and shouldn’t have been allowed to leave. He even posted a video proclaiming his intention to stay with the Blue Devils less than a month before walking out the door.
Because of the ethical circumstances leading up to his abrupt departure and the contractual issues surrounding it, Duke immediately went to the mattresses to fight back. The university filed a lawsuit against the ACC’s leading passer in 2025 in an attempt to hold him to the deal he signed when he transferred to Duke from Tulane.
The case was eventually settled out of court, clearing the way for Mensah to enter the portal. The fact that he committed to Miami the same day and brought favorite receiver Cooper Barkate with him, immediately raised questions about possible tampering.
Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal defended the speed with which he scooped up the top-rated passer in the portal by saying “We were in the market for a quarterback. We felt the team was really set in so many areas, (so) when Darian hit the portal we felt that this is a guy we would love to pursue.”
Six months later, Cristobal’s Duke counterpart remains skeptical of that explanation, but admits that there’s not much he or his school can do to prove otherwise.
“It’s an unanswerable question because ultimately what it comes down to, and this is why it was never an issue for us, is you can only say what you can prove,” Diaz said when asked if he believes Miami tampered with Mensah. “To me, it doesn’t matter and that’s why our issue was never with any other school. Duke was very consistent. The whole situation was simply about a contract that we felt had to be honored and if it wasn’t honored, what is the ramification of that?”
Now that the issue has been settled, Diaz made it clear that he and the players still in his program have moved on and are focused on looking ahead rather than behind. It’s a process that actually began with a team meeting shortly after Mensah’s departure became official.
“As soon as we closed the door, we said we’re not going to let these distractions change what we have intended for this coming season,” graduate tight end Jeremiah Hasley said. “That’s how we ran with it.”
Diaz’s message to his team was simple and direct: Duke’s program is bigger than any one player, even one who threw for 3.973 yards and whose 34 touchdowns were more than anyone in Division I besides Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza.
“We will not be a victim in our program,” Diaz said. “Things don’t happen to us, they happen for us and we get to choose what happens to us next.”
Among the choices Diaz has already made was bringing in Walker Eget, a senior who completed 59 percent of his passes for 3.051 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions at San Jose State last year, as his new quarterback.
But just because Mensah is gone and has been replaced, it doesn’t mean he’ll be completely forgotten. The ACC’s schedule will make sure of that when the Blue Devils come face-to-face with their old quarterback on the field in Coral Gables on Nov. 14.
It’s a reunion both Mensah and the three players representing Duke in Charlotte last week downplayed. But while they all implied that the game will be “only business,” there might still be some lingering scars among the Blue Devils that have yet to heal.
“I still talk to a few of them and obviously they’re hurt that we decided to transfer,” Mensah said.
“There’s always betrayal, I think,” Halsey added. “But at this point, after the whole situation went down, there’s nothing I keep in the back of my mind. We just have to treat it like a typical game.”