Welcome to “In The Pocket” â my opportunity to take you on a tour around college football and highlight the quarterbacks driving the conversation across the sport.
This week, Im taking a look at some of the QBs who are back for another season of college football, but wearing different uniforms: same faces, new places. These are signal-callers who have already proven they can play at this level, and now theyre making an impact at their new schools.
Whether you like it or not, the transfer portal is here to stay. But some of the sports top signal-callers are proving that sometimes, a fresh start is exactly what a quarterback needs.
The former Tulane and Duke signal-caller left Durham, North Carolina, for greener pastures in sunny Miami this spring. Former Hurricanes QB Carson Beck â also a transfer. Notice a trend here? â exhausted his college eligibility, which left a void in the team’s QB room. My guess is it wasn’t just about the money for Mensah, but also the opportunity to showcase his skills for a blue-blood program that gave him the best chance to win a national championship.
Oh, and by the way, it doesn’t hurt to have one of the best wide receivers in the nation to throw the ball to in Malachi Toney. The two have already developed a chemistry that would even make 2 Live Crew jealous.
Mensah’s physical gifts allow him to be a dual-threat quarterback, but he often resists the temptation to scramble, only doing so when necessary. What makes him a true game-changer is his lethal accuracy from the pocket. If there was a component missing from Miami’s offense last season, it was the quarterback’s ability to extend plays. That’s quite the opposite with Mensah. He’s a smooth operator under pressure.
Mensah provides offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson with a veteran presence and the command to utilize the entirety of his playbook. One of the most ridiculous stats to showcase through four weeks of the season is that Mensah currently has more touchdown passes (14) than incompletions (12), and he has yet to throw an interception.
Another notable stat: Mensah has now started 31 games in his collegiate career, which seems to be a theme among recent national championship-winning quarterbacks â Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, Ohio State’s Will Howard and Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza. In fact, you’d have to go back to former Alabama star Mac Jones in 2020 to find a quarterback with fewer than 20 starts who won a national championship.
Keep in mind, Miami has not played a ranked opponent to date, and it won’t until its clash with my Fighting Irish in November. But that road win over Wake Forest is looking better with each week.
Mensah has all the ability to ace the remaining tests, starting this week when the Hurricanes head to Death Valley looking to build on their 4-0 start to the season.
Limited playing time and a head coaching change led Sam Leavitt to initially transfer from Michigan State back to his West Coast roots. He committed to play for Kenny Dillingham and an Arizona State team that was looking for a spark at the quarterback position. In his first year starting, Leavitt led the Sun Devils to a Big 12 championship and a College Football Playoff berth, taking the Texas Longhorns to the wire in the CFP quarterfinals. A disappointing encore, which included a foot injury that required season-ending surgery, opened the door to the Bayou.
Early returns this season have been mixed. Leavitt led the Tigers to a pair of impressive wins over Clemson and Texas A&M, but he threw three picks in the team’s Week 2 win over Louisiana Tech, and then went 16-of-27 for 158 yards with a touchdown and an interception in LSU’s loss to Ole Miss.
When Leavitt is at his best, LSU can beat anyone in the country. The question is, can Charlie Weis Jr. and Lane Kiffin unlock his full potential and get that version of Leavitt every week?
A 6-foot-2, 216-pound junior with flowing locks, Leavitt looks
