Based in Miami, the Mendoza family will be able to focus all of their energy on Saturdays toward Bloomington in 2025.
That wasn’t the case last year, with one son playing quarterback at California and the other at Indiana.
One reason why redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza chose to transfer from Cal to IU was to unify his family on multiple fronts.
That starts with once again living under the same roof with his brother, IU redshirt freshman quarterback Alberto Mendoza.
“To be able to play with my brother for one or two years, and be able to live with each other, and it will be easier for our family,” Fernando said on the Hoosiers Connect podcast.
But make no mistake, the 6-foot-5 and 225-pound signal caller made a football decision once he entered the transfer portal following the 2024 campaign.
Fernando was coming off a solid redshirt sophomore season, leading Cal to a 6-5 record before he missed the final game with an illness.
In his first full season as a starter, Fernando was a three-time ACC Quarterback of the Week in 2024, and he produced just the ninth 3,000-yard passing season in California history. Overall he was 265-of-386 (68.7%) passing for 3,004 yards, with 16 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He rushed for 105 yards and two scores.
But with his college career already trending towards something special, Fernando was looking for another level. And keeping a watchful eye on his younger brother, what was happening at Indiana was difficult to ignore.
Despite moving up to the Power Four from Ohio University, Kurtis Rourke posted the best season of his college career at IU, led the team to the College Football Playoff, received Heisman Trophy votes and made himself a likely NFL Draft choice in a couple months.
While Fernando saw what we all saw from afar when it came to Rourke, he had the added luxury of the play-by-play from his brother inside the quarterbacks room.
“The reason that IU stood out, and stood out way above the rest, the number one factor was the development,” Fernando said of his decision to transfer to Indiana.
“The development that coach (Curt) Cignetti brings, that coach (offensive coordinator Mike) Shanahan brings, and that (new quarterbacks) coach (Chandler) Whitmer brings. All three have worked with phenomenal quarterbacks in the past. Coach Cignetti, four out of the last five quarterbacks he’s had have all been conference players of the year. The only one that wasn’t was Kurtis Rourke, but that guy was unbelievable.”
While he says he has good speed and can run, and his film backs that up, Mendoza said he’s a passer first.
And as a passer, Mendoza studied IU’s offense before committing to the Hoosiers. The former Yale commit sees similar base concepts that most programs run. But it’s the finer details that make Indiana and Cignetti stand out.
“A big reason with the Indiana offensive system its variety and how multiple it is, and what great detail the offense is, and how it develops people for the next level,” Fernando said.
“It developed Kurtis Rourke in that one year for the next level, and I believe it’s going to do the same for myself. And it’s not only the offense, because at the end of the day everybody runs four verticals. But it’s the detail, and the way of coaching and style of coaching that was really attractive.”
Fernando arrived in Bloomington in January as the assumed starter for the Hoosiers in 2025.
But that’s according to the fans and media.
It’s almost certainly not anything Fernando is hearing from the coaches, who preach competition and constant improvement like a religion.
And it isn’t coming from his new home in Bloomington either.
Alberto is entering his redshirt freshman season. That’s the same year Fernando broke through at Cal and earned the starting job midseason.
This year, the quarterback competition at Indiana starts at breakfast and ends when the lights go out.
“My brother and I get along, but we push each other,” Fernando said. “When I first came (to IU) it was like ‘Although I’m coming, we’re still going to compete.’ That’s what I love about Alberto, and he’s going to be a hell of a quarterback one day.”
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