Last week, Fernando Mendoza won the first ever me-guy award. Let’s keep this week’s winner in the same sport. This was a big week for me-guys, as the transfer portal closed on Friday. A plethora of me-guys entered the transfer portal last week, leaving their teams to go chase a bag. I don’t blame them for wanting to go out there and get their money. I would probably do the same thing if I was that good at football. I do have a problem with the way Darian Mensah entered the transfer portal, though. 

Before this CFB season, Darian Mensah’s commitment to Duke was some of the biggest news of the offseason. After an incredible freshman year at Tulane, the Cali kid was one of the most highly-coveted transfers in the portal. Duke surprised everybody and offered Mensah $5 million dollars to be their quarterback of the future. He was extremely effective his first year in Durham, ranking 2nd in CFB in both yards and touchdowns. He led the Blue Devils to an ACC Championship victory. Immediately following that victory, Mensah dropped a LeBron James-style video announcing his return to Duke for his junior season. 

This video would’ve nominated Mensah for me-guy of the week itself. Somehow, it actually gets worse. Within a couple weeks of that video releasing, on the last day the transfer portal was open, Mensah entered his name in the portal. Literally an hour before the portal closed, he made the last-second decision to transfer. If that isn’t tampering, I don’t know what is. He obviously received a call and offer from another school or coach right before the portal closed, and that team is rumored to be the Miami Hurricanes. 

It would be one thing if he entered his name in the portal on day one, or even within the first week. Instead, he waited until the last possible moment, hurting Duke’s chances of finding his replacement. Mensah then went on to post a thank you to Duke, which ended up being mainly written by AI. 

Duke bent over backwards for Mensah, giving him $5 million dollars of NIL money, a full ride and future degree from one of the best colleges in the country, and even scheduled a game against his formal school Tulane per his request. The funniest part… Duke lost to Tulane and his former school this past season.

Look, I’m not even mad at Mensah for hitting the transfer portal. Everybody is doing it, and it’s more of a CFB issue. What I am mad about is the way that he did it. If I got a compensation package like this, it would be hard to turn down. 

Darian Mensah put himself before his teammates and his school that took a risk overpaying him to come in and transfer last offseason. The risk paid off, and this is how Mensah is repaying them? Duke just won the ACC, and if I was a football fan of the Blue Devils,  I would be livid. They had an opportunity to utilize their success from this past season and build on it, running it back in an attempt to make the CFB playoffs. Instead, Mensah did what’s best for himself, and didn’t even care enough to write a thank you to all the Duke faithful himself. He used AI to write up a post for him. Again, it’s not the fact that he entered the transfer portal, it’s the way he did it. 

Congratulations Darian Mensah. You have been awarded the me-guy of the week for your actions. He pulled a move very similar to what the Baltimore Colts did back in the day, leaving the city in the middle of the night without any warning. A true scumbag move from Mensah, but judging by him having AI write his thank you post, he probably doesn’t really care. I will be forever rooting against this kid and the University of Miami, praying on his downfall for being the biggest me-guy since Fernando Mendoza not letting his little brother play in the college football playoffs. 

Honorable mention: I still cannot get over LeBron James rocking a customized 23 year patch on his jersey with himself literally on it, doing his patented chalk toss pre-game. LeBron is such a me-guy. What does he have to gain from wearing this?

Also, @BookitWithTrent is such a me-guy for not coming to the SMU/VT basketball game last week. He could have witnessed the most unbelievable half-court buzzer beater, but instead was at his apartment doing absolutely nothing. Such a me-guy move.