Fernando Mendoza Is the First Cal Graduate to Win Heisman Trophy

Fernando Mendoza was identified as an Indiana quarterback when he was named the Heisman Trophy winner on Saturday night. And his college will be listed as Indiana when he is taken in the first round of the upcoming NFL draft. And he will lead No 1-ranked Indiana into the College Football Playoff.

However, when he applies for a job after a dozen or so years in the NFL and he is asked what college he graduated from, Mendoza will probably say, the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Mendoza becomes the first Cal graduate to win the Heisman Trophy. The closest a Cal alumnus came to winning the Heisman previously was Chuck Muncie, who finished second to Ohio State’s Archie Griffin in 1975.

Mendoza did not forget Cal in his acceptance speech.

"To my Cal family, thanks for being the first to believe in my future," he said. "Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks for educating me, giving me the foundation that enabled me to grow into the p;erson I am today."

And a strong case could be made that Mendoza would not have won the Heisman this year were it not for his time at Cal.

Mendoza was a two-star prospect coming out of high school in Miami, and he apparently was headed for Yale before Cal came along with a late offer.

Bill Musgrave, Cal’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the time, spoke with Mendoza late in the recruiting process, then visited Mendoza at home in Miami after most prospects in the class of 2022 had already signed. Mendoza then took a flight to Berkeley and liked what he saw.

When he signed with Cal in February 2022, Mendoza told SI.com, “I told coach Wilcox this is the best decision he’s going to make.”

Mendoza spent three years at Cal with three different offensive coordinators – 2022 with Musgrave, 2023 with Jake Spavital and 2024 with offensive coordinator Mike Bloesch and quarterbacks coach Sterlin Gilbert.

And Mendoza received critical mentoring from Tim Plough when Plough was the Bears’ tight end coach in 2023.

Mendoza redshirted his first year in the Cal football program, spending his time in practice replicating plays of Cal’s next opponent as a member of the scout team.

Before the 2023 season, Mendoza enlisted the aid of Tim Plough, who was then Cal’s tight ends coach, had previously been an offensive coordinator at Boise State and currently is the head coach at UC Davis. Plough mentored Mendoza on the fine points of playing quarterback at Cal and the needed leadership qualities even though Mendoza had little chance to being the Bears’ starter that season.

He began his second season at Cal as the Bears’ third-sting quarterback, behind Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley, who traded starting assignments through the first five games of the 2023 season before Mendoza got his first college start in the sixth game of that season against Oregon State.

(By the way, Jackson was a quarterback at Oklahoma State this season, playing in all 12 games, including three starts, and completing 53% of his passes with one touchdown and two interceptions for the 1-11 Cowboys. Ben Finlkey was the starting quarterback at Akron this season and threw 19 touchdown passes with nine interceptions for the 5-7 Zips.)

Anyway Mendoza started the final eight games of the 2023 season, including an Independence Bowl loss in which Mendoza threw three interceptions.

Cal brought in North Texas transfer Chandler Rogers to compete with Mendoza for the Bears’ starting quarterback job in 2024. Mendoza won the job and led Cal to a 6-6 regular season before sitting out Cal’s bowl game and entering the transfer portal.

Mendoza became a star at Indiana under head coach Curt Cignetti, but before the start of the 2025 football season, Mendoza graduated from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business with a degree in business administration in the summer of 2025. Mendoza reportedly paid for his final Cal classes himself after his transfer to Indiana.

The question remains: Would Mendoza have become the first Cal graduate to win the Heisman Trophy were it not for what he learned at Cal?

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