The ‘2 peas in a pod’ best friend duo looking to get Miami football over national title hump

The Miami football program is hoping to build off its 2025 run when the upcoming 2026 college football season gets underway in less than two months. The Hurricanes are coming off a brilliant run to the 2025 national title game, where they ultimately fell just short against the Indiana Hoosiers at their home stadium.

Recently, new Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah, who transferred over from Duke University this offseason, spoke on what it will be like having his former Duke teammate, wide receiver Cooper Barkate, in the mix with him at Miami this year.

“It’s great to go through some transition that’s a little bit difficult with your best friend. We’re like two peas in a pod. We just go & get it, do a lot of things off the field. I think that translates to our chemistry on the field,” said Mensah, per Brett McMurphy of On3 Sports on X, formerly Twitter.

Mensah also spoke on the groundwork laid by former Miami quarterbacks Cam Ward and Carson Beck over the last two seasons.

“That was a huge factor, deciding to transfer, seeing what those guys did. My OC (Shannon) Dawson will form the offense around the quarterback, around the stuff he likes to do. That also made it something I wanted to be a part of,” he said, per McMurphy.

The Hurricanes will have their third quarterback in as many years this season, but Mensah certainly put enough positive things on film last year to convince head coach Mario Cristobal and company that he was the right guy for Miami moving forward.

Miami is set to kick off its 2026 season in less than two months with a game against Stanford.

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