Duke quarterback Darian Mensah has managed to speed up the legal case that currently has him blocked from heading to another school.
An attorney for Mensah filed an emergency motion in Durham County Superior Court seeking a judge to “reconsider” the temporary restraining order (TRO) granted to the school that prohibits Mensah from enrolling elsewhere. That TRO sought by Duke runs through the next scheduled hearing in the case, but Mensah's request argued that enrollment deadlines for other schools expire as early as Friday.
“Consequently, the TRO Order becomes more than ‘temporary,’ as it could permanently foreclose opportunities for Mensah to enroll at other collegiate institutions,” the motion states.
Additionally, Mensah's motion sought to reschedule the Feb. 2 hearing date to Friday if a judge didn't reconsider the temporary restraining order. Ultimately, that next hearing was moved up four days to Thursday, according to the state's online courts portal.
The school filed its lawsuit Monday in Durham County Superior Court, pointing to terms in the two-season contract Mensah signed with Duke for payments tied to his name, image and likeness (NIL) rights in college football through 2026. Duke's complaint came three days after Mensah reversed his previously announced plan to return to the Blue Devils after leading them to the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
Specifically, Duke’s lawsuit argued that the contract requires parties to go through arbitration before any dispute can be resolved. The school has issued a statement saying it “intends to honor” its contract with Mensah “and we expect he will do the same.”
A judge granted Duke’s request for the TRO, first verbally in a Tuesday hearing and then with a written order a day later, in an effort to “preserve the status quo” until the next hearing. That meant Mensah could enter his name into the transfer portal, but couldn’t take additional steps such as enrolling elsewhere and reaching a deal to play football.
Mensah's filing asks the judge for reconsideration based on “new evidence," then argues that “neither Mensah nor counsel was aware of any enrollment deadlines” for schools interested in adding Mensah at the time of the Tuesday hearing. It argues that Mensah would suffer “manifest injustice” if the deadline passes while the parties stay with the Feb. 2 scheduled hearing, while also arguing that date exceeds a 10-day limit prescribed by the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure.
In an accompanying affidavit, Mensah states he “learned for the first time” that enrollment deadlines at other schools “will expire” Friday and that he was “not informed” of deadlines before the hearing.
Mensah, who transferred in from Tulane and even faced his former team, finished second in the Bowl Subdivision ranks by throwing for 3,973 yards while ranking tied for second with 34 passing touchdowns.
The Mensah-Duke case is the latest in what is becoming a more frequent occurrence in the revenue-sharing era of college sports: legal fights over contracts between schools and players seeking to transfer.
Earlier this month, Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. announced plans to transfer before changing his mind two days later, coming amid multiple reports that the school was prepared to pursue legal options to enforce Williams’ NIL contract.
And in December, Missouri pass rusher Damon Wilson II filed a lawsuit claiming the athletic department at Georgia was trying to illegally punish him for entering the portal in January 2025.
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FILE - Virginia defensive lineman Daniel Rickert (52) tries to tackle Duke quarterback Darian Mensah (10) during the Atlantic Coast Conference championship NCAA college football game between Virginia and Duke, Dec. 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Law enforcement agents have been gathering more potential evidence as the search for “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie 's mother heads into its third week.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.
Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.
Here's what to know about her disappearance and the intense search to find her:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released surveillance videos of a masked person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson the night she vanished. A porch camera recorded video of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.
On Thursday, the FBI called the person a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.
Investigators initially said there was no surveillance video available since Guthrie didn’t have an active subscription to the doorbell camera company. But digital forensics experts kept working to find images in back-end software that might have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible.
Investigators collected DNA from Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said. Investigators are working to identify who it belongs to.
Evidence requiring forensic analysis is being sent to the same out-of-state lab that has been used since the beginning of the case, the department said.
Investigators found several gloves, the nearest about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home, and submitted them for lab analysis, the sheriff’s department said. It did not specify what type of gloves.
The sheriff stressed his department is working closely with the FBI.
The Pima County sheriff and the FBI announced phone numbers and a website to offer tips. Several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the case, the sheriff’s department said.
The FBI said it has collected more than 13,000 tips since Feb. 1, the day Guthrie was reported missing. The sheriff’s department, meanwhile, said it has taken at least 18,000 calls.
The sheriff’s department has not said whether any tips have advanced the investigation.
Late Friday night, law enforcement sealed off a road about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A parade of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.
The sheriff’s department said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation but declined to detail specifics.
On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but confirmed he was released.
The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour's drive south of the city.
Savannah Guthrie, her sister and her brother have shared on social media multiple video messages to their mother’s purported captor.
The family’s Instagram videos have shifted in tone from impassioned pleas to whoever may have their mom, saying they want to talk and are even willing to pay a ransom, to bleaker and more desperate requests for the public’s help.
The latest video on Thursday was simply a home video of their mother and a promise to “never give up on her.”
Nancy Guthrie lived alone in the upscale Catalina Foothills neighborhood, where houses are spaced far apart and set back from the street by long driveways, gates and dense desert vegetation.
Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and once worked at a television station in the city, where her parents settled in the 1970s. She joined “Today” in 2011.
In a video, she described her mother as a “loving woman of goodness and light.”
People hang yellow ribbons in their neighborhood around Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
A banner reading "Bring her home" on a fence outside of the KVOA news station in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
A person places flowers in front of Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
