Monday night’s national championship game is going to carry a bit of extra meaning for Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
The 2025 Heisman Trophy winner is the talk of college football at the moment as he has the Hoosiers on the cusp of a 16-0 season and the first national championship in program history. Now, the Miami native looks to finish the job in his hometown against the team he once dreamed of playing for, as he revealed in an interview last May with NBC Sports’ Nicole Auerbach.
Though Mendoza is now viewed as a likely first overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, his stock was not always this high. He was a two-star recruit coming out of Columbus High School in Miami, and he ranked outside the top 2,000 players nationally, per the 247Sports composite rankings.
He didn’t find himself on the radar of his childhood team, and he ultimately committed to California, which was his only FBS offer. When Mendoza entered the transfer portal following a successful 2024 season, it was widely rumored that he’d be heading to South Beach, but he instead joined his brother, Alberto, and coach Curt Cignetti at Indiana.
The Hurricanes opted to sign former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, who had initially declared for the NFL draft. Now, Mendoza has the chance to win a championship in Miami, just perhaps not under the circumstances he dreamt about as a kid.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Did Miami football recruit Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza in high school?
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