Tulane Green Wave Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Recognized By Prestigious Award
The Tulane Green Wave looks to be in good hands under center.
On Monday, it was announced that Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah was named a Star of the Week by the Manning Award.
The Manning award names the eight quarterbacks each week based on their performances. It has been around since 2004 to honor the accomplishments of Archie, Peyton, and Eli Manning in college football.
It was indeed a breakout game for Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah, as he exposed the South Florida Bulls defense all game. He ended the day with 326 yards passing and three touchdowns. He had an 81.8 completion percentage after being successful on 18 of his 22 passes. The former Saint Joseph High School quarterback completed his first ten completions of the game on Saturday against USF for 162 yards before picking up his first incompletion.
His three passing touchdowns all came in the first half as he found Dontae Fleming on a 15-yard pass late in the first quarter, as well as two deep scores to Mario Williams before the end of the first half. The entire Tulane squad picked up 528 yards of total offense in the matchup.
Mensah now leads all of the AAC in passing efficiency entering Week 6 of the season, as well as passing yards per completion (15.6). He only trails Chandler Morris of the North Texas Mean Green in the conference in passing touchdowns. The young Green Wave Quarterback is 32nd in the country with 1122 yards in the air.
Mensah joins seven other quarterbacks across the country for the award in Week 5 of the season. Also receiving the recognition are Jalen Milroe (Alabama), Cam Ward (Miami), Avery Johnson (Kansas State), Chandler Morris (North Texas), Hunter Watson (Sam Houston), Hajj-Malik Williams (UNLV) and Ben Woolridge (Louisiana). Mensah is the only quarterback in the American Athletic Conference to receive the award this week. The redshirt freshman is the first Tulane Quarterback to be named a Star of the Week since Michael Pratt last season for his efforts in Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Tulane will look to continue its momentum and move to 4-2 on the year and 2-0 in conference play as it travels to Birmingham to take on the UAB Blazers. They are coming off a loss in their only AAC game of the season to the Navy Midshipman 41-18. The opening kickoff is scheduled for 1 pm EST.
