IU football quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been selected as the 2025-26 Big Ten Conference Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year, the league announced on Wednesday.
Mendoza is the sixth IU athlete to earn the award, and the first since track and field star Derek Drouin in 2013.
This is the second such honor for the Hoosiers’ football program, as Mendoza joins College Football Hall of Famer Anthony Thompson, who won in 1990.
Beyond Mendoza, Drouin and Thompson, the other three male winners from IU were Jim Spivey (track, cross country, 1982), Sunder Nix (track, 1984) and Steve Alford (basketball, 1987).
Mendoza was the the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, selected by the Las Vegas Raiders. He’s the second-ever Hoosier to go No. 1 overall, joining Corbett Davis, whom the long-defunct Cleveland Rams drafted in 1938.
Mendoza transferred to IU from Cal in December 2024, and went on to post one of the greatest individual seasons in program history, in undoubtedly the greatest team season in program history. He took the Hoosiers to a remarkable 16-0 season ending in their first-ever national championship, capturing wins in the Big Ten Championship Game, Rose Bowl, and Peach Bowl along the way. Mendoza also won Indiana’s first-ever Heisman Trophy, along with the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Award, and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.
The Miami native shattered IU’s single-season passing touchdown record, with 41 on the year. Mendoza also set a program single-season completion percentage record at 72 percent, and he finished second behind Nate Sudfeld with 3,535 passing yards last season.
Mendoza led the FBS in passing touchdowns (41), passing efficiency (182.9) and points responsible for (288), behind an FBS-best 48 touchdowns accounted for. He was the only FBS quarterback with six games of four-plus touchdown passes and zero interceptions and accounted for at least one touchdown in all 16 games, including 14 with a touchdown pass.
Mendoza is the eighth football player to claim the honor, joining Iowa’s Chuck Long (1986), Thompson (1990), Michigan’s Desmond Howard (1992) and Charles Woodson (1998), Ohio State’s Eddie George (1996) and Chase Young (2020), and Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne (2000).
UCLA basketball center Lauren Betts has been recognized as the 2025-26 Big Ten Conference Female Athlete of the Year. IU softball’s Avery Parker was the school’s nominee. Legendary swimmer Lilly King is the school’s only female winner of the honor (2017 and 2018).
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