Brooks Austin is higher on Darian Mensah now than he was a few months ago, and the Film Guy’s latest breakdown makes it pretty clear why. On the CanesInSight podcast earlier this afternoon, Austin laid out a quarterback profile that starts in rarefied air - he called Mensah “top three in the country” - and then kept stacking reasons behind it.
The headline comparison is Jordan Love, and Austin isn’t moving off it. For him, this isn’t about raw arm strength.
He said Mensah does not have the biggest arm in the country. What stands out is how fast the ball gets out and how cleanly it arrives.
"Every ball is uber catchable. Every ball, like, comes in perfect," Austin said, comparing Mensah's release to Ray Allen's jump shot.
"There are some people who are throwers, and there are some people who are true passers of the football. He, to me, is a true passer of the football."
A big part of Austin’s confidence comes from the scheme jump from Duke to Miami. One of the concerns around Mensah has been that Duke’s offense under Jonathan Brewer - Rhett Lashlee’s old understudy running a version of Lashlee’s system - did a lot of the thinking for him before the snap. The structure leaned more toward “check with me” than full-field control, with answers often tied to box counts and simple decisions like screens or runs.
Austin didn’t buy that as a red flag. He pointed instead to Mensah’s Tulane tape, where he worked under center, used heavy play-action, turned his back to the defense and still sorted out changing looks. In Austin’s view, that kind of processing isn’t common, and it fits what Shannon Dawson is likely to ask for in an offense Austin described as closer to what Todd Monken runs - a real, professional system rather than an RPO-heavy setup.
Austin also widened the lens and took aim at the way quarterbacks get evaluated before they ever take a real snap. He ran through a list of names who were lightly recruited or overlooked: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert.
Fernando Mendoza had one FBS offer, from Cal, after committing to Yale. Cam Ward had zero offers.
Mensah had one, from Tulane.
His point was simple: camp settings can reward the wrong traits. In his view, they often value how the ball looks in shorts and a T-shirt, with no pass rush and no coverage, instead of whether a quarterback can read a defense and absorb contact.
Austin brought up Trinidad Chambliss as another example of that kind of player, saying he had the answers pre-snap last year and was rarely caught off guard, even though he started the season behind Austin Simmons at Ole Miss.
On the ball-security front, Austin liked what he saw from Mensah at Duke. He said Mensah generally keeps the ball out of danger.
The one area where things can flip is on money downs. Austin pointed to a two-point conversion clip he tweeted, with Mensah rolling right, scrambling and then throwing back across his body to Cooper Barkate, who managed to get both feet down in the end zone.
That, Austin said, is the version of Mensah that appears when the moment calls for more.
He contrasted that with Ward, saying Ward tended to hold the ball too long in college while chasing the big play instead of taking the easier completion.
Austin’s bottom line on Mensah is straightforward: not the strongest arm, but a true passer with elite touch, timing and ball security, and a quarterback who can protect the football until the situation demands something more. In Austin’s view, that combination is a problem for defenses.
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Darian Mensah Just Gave Miami Fans An Early Camp Reality Check
Darian Mensah got his first real taste of playing inside the stadium on Friday, and the Miami quarterback came away with a clear sense of how much work still sits in front of the Hurricanes before the season begins. Speaking after the scrimmage, Mensah pointed to the challenge the defense presented and the way defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman has kept camp competitive, giving the offense little room to settle in comfortably.
Mensah also framed the moment the way a veteran would, stressing the need to stay grounded and keep the focus on the process rather than getting ahead of themselves. For Miami, that kind of early camp reality check can be useful, especially when the defense is already forcing the quarterback room to sharpen up against real resistance. [Read more 🡒]