After a scintillating performance in Indiana’s 63-10 thrashing of then-top 10 Illinois, Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza has emerged as the new Heisman Trophy betting favorite.
Mendoza is now the FanDuel odds on favorite to win the Heisman with +800 odds, surpassing Oklahoma QB John Mateer (+900), Miami QB Carson Beck (+1300), Oregon QB Dante Moore (+1300), Georgia QB Gunner Stockton (+1400) and TCU QB Josh Hoover (+1400).
Through four games this season, Mendoza has been terrific in leading the undefeated Hoosiers. He has a nation-best 14 passing touchdowns, zero interceptions and ranks second nationally in completion percentage (76.8 percent) and quarterback rating (206.2). Mendoza and Indiana have been so good they’ve turned what started as considerable outside skepticism into belief that the Hoosiers again look like a playoff-caliber team.
“He will do everything he can to be the best he can be,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said after the win. “It means a lot to him. He wants to be great.”
This was all part of Mendoza’s plan, really.
If you’re wondering where this guy came from, he spent the first three seasons of his college career at Cal. There were some highlights along the way, especially a road win over Auburn last season, but Mendoza ultimately decided to pursue other options after the Bears lost four games by one score and finished 6-7 on the season. He admitted this offseason it was hard to be a part of what was an eventual exodus of Cal talent that included running back Jaydn Ott.
There were quite a few different options available to the 6-foot-5, 225-pound quarterback, including SEC powerhouse Georgia. The Miami native was one of the top QBs available in the portal — 247Sports had him ranked as the No. 4 transfer QB — and could be choosy with so many suitors interested in bringing him into the fold. He came up with his top two priorities in a new school: Player development and coaching.
So, why did Mendoza choose Indiana?
It helped that Mendoza’s younger brother, Alberto, was already in the Indiana program. The elder Mendoza saw how much his brother had grown and developed after only a season with Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan. In a year, Alberto progressed as much as Fernando said it took him two or three years to do.
“The player development here, especially this staff, their last four quarterbacks have all been players of the year and the only one that wasn’t was Kurtis Rourke, who finished in the Heisman voting last year,” Mendoza told CBS Sports.
He also didn’t have to wonder if Indiana coaches were just telling him what he wanted to hear. He had as pristine a source as possible in his younger brother to tell him what life was like in Cignetti’s program, and he wanted to be a part of it. He especially loved all the elite offensive minds on the staff in Cignetti, Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer, who arrived this season from the Atlanta Falcons.
Mendoza self-evaluated what he needed to get better at, not only for this season but for a hopeful NFL career, and believed Cignetti and Co. represented the best chance at him achieving it. He knew they’d coach him hard and push him to be the best version of himself.
“To have an offensive-minded coaching staff was extremely important for me, and to get that development was really important for me,” Mendoza said, “because whenever I would talk to people — former coaches, mentors — they were like we really think you’re doing well but to take that next level and really get where you want to go aka the NFL, you really need to be a bit more polished and more consistent. That was a big thing I was looking to accomplish at Indiana.”
So far, so good.
Mendoza is positioning himself as possibly the first quarterback to be taken in the NFL Draft. Indiana is one of the hottest teams in the country and shot up to No. 11 in the AP Top 25 poll after its dominant win over Illinois. If both keep this trajectory, Indiana will be one of the most desired destinations for transfer quarterbacks looking to play in an exciting offense that will prepare them for the next level.
It’s still very early in the Heisman process, and there will likely be plenty more yo-yoing of players atop the leaderboard like we’ve seen so far through four weeks. But with big games against Oregon and Penn State still to come, Mendoza has a real chance to be a major factor in the Heisman race if he can keep up his strong play.
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