CHARLOTTE – Two ACC quarterbacks transferring within the conference appeared on the three-day stage of the ACC Kickoff at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Their stories with the backdrop of reengineered college football created a script reading like “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”
The parallels are easy to connect with the moral depictions of characters played Clint Eastwood (the Good), Lee Van Cleef (the Bad) and Eli Wallach (the Ugly). The 1966 movie may not be on the play list of today’s players, but it’s still fittingly appropriate.
Here’s what I observed:
— Wake Forest quarterback GIo Lopez was Eastwood gaining a second chance after the sour experience playing for North Carolina coach Bill Belichick.
— Wake Forest defensive end Langston Hardy was Van Cleef revealing he was forced to deal with tampering.
— Miami quarterback Darian Mensah was the Wallach admitting three schools in three years isn’t personal — it’s business. Yes, he’s also Marlon Brando from “The Godfather.”
Another comparison to consider was Miami alum Michael Irvin’s greed from his NFL days compared to today’s Hurricanes reaping the benefits of program he helped build decades ago.
THE GOOD
Lopez, a senior, says he is enjoying football again under Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert. A year ago, he was caught in the swirling storm of North Carolina’s contentious 2025 season under Bill Belichick, the Tar Heels taciturn coach.
Lopez was asked on Friday to offer transfer advice. The $2 million deal was lucrative until it was pressure as the season went South.
“If I had to give a younger guy some rules about transfer portal, I would say just go somewhere you feel comfortable and where you feel truly wanted,” Lopez said. “If you feel like you’re just a number somewhere or you’re chasing financial gain, then that’s maybe your thing, but for me playing for Coach Dickert has been a really positive light and knowing that he knows me more than as No. 3.”
Lopez’s reboot through spring football and offseason turned out to be enough time to establish his leadership and earn a trip to Charlotte as one of the Demon Deacons’ three player representatives.
“It’s more than just a jersey number,” Lopez said. “(Dickert) knows me as a person. He knows my family. He knows the way I operate and stuff like that. I say go somewhere you feel truly comfortable as a person.”
Ouch, Bill Belichick. The 2025 season was a learning experience for him, too. He had to learn coaching college players is about more than their play equaling their paycheck. The three Tar Heels speaking in Charlotte, Melkart Abou Jaoude, Christo Kelly and Jordan Ship, praised him for reshaping the team culture.
THE BAD
Langston Hardy, who earned honorable All-ACC honors in 2025, didn’t enter the transfer portal, but he nevertheless heard from intermediaries attempting to convince him to take a recruiting trip.
Hardy, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound edge rusher, echoed Lopez’s advice. He said find an environment that fits you rather than chasing money.
“It was the same thing,” said Hardy, who finished 2025 with 17 tackles for a loss that led the ACC and was fifth in the nation.
“It’s the nature of college football – you hear from schools even though you’re not even thinking of transferring. I truly love this place and the coaching staff. It’s a monetary situation. But if you have values based on people, I think you’re have a better experience.”
THE UGLY
Mensah didn’t mince words when asked about backtracking on his words he planned to return to Duke as he led the Blue Devils to a Sun Bowl win over Arizona State. He entered the portal as the clock struck midnight and left for Miami.
“Business is business,” Mensah said on Wednesday’s first day of the ACC Kickoff.
Mensah was lightly recruited when he played for Tulane as a true freshman. He left for Duke after signing for $8 million over two years. He’s believed to be earning $6.5 million at Miami.
He explained the decision was driven by his team – agents and advisors. But he admitted it also was about Miami’s national title chances compared to Duke.
“Seeing the type of roster Miami has,” he said, “obviously I wanted to compete for a national championship.”
Mensah is Miami’s third transfer portal quarterback in three years. The Hurricanes brought in Cam Ward in 2024 by way of Washington State and Carson Beck in 2025 from Georgia.
Beck led the Hurricanes to the 2025 College Football Playoff runner-up finish, but he also turned into a poster boy for what’s wrong with the transfer portal and NIL money. He flouted living in an exclusive neighborhood and buying a Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz and not attending classes having graduated from Georgia.
THE UGLY IRONY
The state of NIL and the transfer portal in 2026 is NFL Michael Irvin-like greed in reverse.
When Miami won the 1987 national title with Irvin as an All-American receiver, his only compensation was a scholarship and meal money. Miami’s success helped with recruiting, and the Hurricanes won four more official national titles.
Winning big provided Miami the NIL resources to pay short-term players millions of dollars
The Irvin college/NFL irony is when he was winning three Super Bowl titles with the Dallas Cowboys, he was one of the loudest critics of a new NFL collective bargaining agreement that increased pay for retired players who built a modest league into a financial gold mine.
In 1993, NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw visited the Cowboys to explain to the active players reasons for allotting more money to retired players.
Irvin, in addition to shouting, reportedly mooned Upshaw.
Today’s Miami players who hit the lottery based in on the program’s stature are metaphorically mooning Irvin when they cash their checks.
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