College football's highest-paid quarterback this year comes as a surprise

The top-earning college QB probably isn't who anyone might have thought it was.

That revelation comes from Pete Nakos's recent story, in which the On3 columnist noted that over 20 passers are slated to surpass the $1 million mark in NIL earnings for 2025. That said, the leader of the group isn't one of the likely suspects like Georgia-turned-Miami Heisman candidate Carson Beck or five-star Michigan stud Bryce Underwood.

The Surprising Money Leader

The Duke Blue Devils apparently dropped the largest QB bag for Tulane transfer Darian Mensah, according to Nakos.

The need was clear for the Blue Devils after standout passer Maalik Murphy transferred to Oregon State following the 2024 season. Coach Manny Diaz had plugged Murphy in as a transfer from Texas, and he passed for 2,933 yards and 26 scores in leading the Blue Devils to a 9-4 mark.

But when Murphy hit the road, Duke's QB search got heated in a hurry. Mensah was certainly an unlikely suspect to land the job. He was an under-the-radar three-star recruit out of high school, with 247sports listing scholarship offers only from Idaho State and Tulane.

But after redshirting for the Green Wave in 2023, Mensah had an impressive 2024 season. New Tulane coach Jon Sumrall trusted the freshman passer with the starting job, and Mensah responded with 2,723 passing yards and 22 touchdowns against just six interceptions. He also led the Green Wave to the AAC title game and a 9-5 season.

Mensah's Major NIL Deal

The sophomore QB accordingly worked out a massive NIL deal with the QB-hungry Blue Devils. Mensah's NIL terms are reportedly in the area of $8 million over the next two seasons. Nakos indicated that incentives could drive the deal as high as $10 million over that two-year duration. That's a massive payout from a school that didn't reach a bowl game between 1994 and 2012.

That the Blue Devils, who aside from their modest history have made significant strides under David Cutcliffe, Mike Elko, and now Diaz, were made desperate by the surprising QB vacancy was not unreasonable. Further, given Mensah's impressive 2024 performance and potential for as many as three remaining seasons of college football eligibility, it's not surprising that he'd be a relatively high-earning player.

But the top-earning QB for 2025 potentially being a former three-star recruit who played in the AAC and now will run the offense for one of the few private power-conference football schools and one with a relatively mild gridiron tradition? That's an early surprise for the 2025 season.