Everything From Georgia Tech QB Alberto Mendoza After Tuesday's Practice

Georgia Tech QB Alberto Mendoza spoke to the media for the first time. Here is everything he had to say.

On the journey to Georgia Tech…

“Yeah, so it's kind of crazy. We played pretty late, and it wasn't really in the portal for anything. So I actually met Coach Wink (Chris Weinke) at the Heisman ceremony because my brother obviously won the Heisman. Just talking to all the Heisman winners was honestly amazing, and I didn't think anything of it. Coach Wink was a great guy, talked to Doug Flutie, Tim Tebow, and a ton of the guys. It was awesome to be there and experience that, and then hopefully, fingers crossed, I’ll be back one day. And then after the national championship, I got in the portal. A couple of schools hit me up, and obviously, I knew the coach went in from before, hopped on a phone with a couple of the schools and ended up coming to take a visit Georgia Tech and locking it in here. So happy I ended up here.”

On learning a new offense and some of the challenges….

“Yeah, I mean learning new offense anywhere is not easy. You gotta learn all the new terminology, you gotta learn all the new concepts, and although most of the concepts in football are the same, you gotta learn the new terminology, which is part of the hardest part and how they wanna teach it a little bit differently, how you wanna read it a little differently. So just coming into that, just getting used to honestly the players, the timing of the routes. That's what spring ball's for, that's what the fall camp is for and that's what the summer's for, getting on time with all my great receivers, Jordan Allen, Dalen Penson and all those guys, Gavin, Chris Corbo, Just getting on time with all those guys is the biggest thing I'm trying to do because the concepts are all similar at every place you go. This is really a true pro style offense. Obviously, Coach Godsey has come from the NFL. So I think just getting under center, doing that, which I've never done before, and working through it in spring, summer, and fall is going to be amazing. It has been amazing. Mean, our offense is so dynamic so far. I think we're going to put some great stuff on the field.”

On how he describes what it has been like for him and his family during the process….

“Yeah, it's been crazy. Mean, it's really been crazy. I just met my brother at the Masters this past weekend, so that was a great time. Just being with my whole family, the whole journey together, talking through things, I mean, we get on a call almost every night, all of us, just to talk. So we're a very close-knit group, a close-knit family, and we talk through everything together, all the big decisions.

When Fernando was in the portal, we were in conversations about it. Long nights when I was in the portal. We had a lot of conversations. So it's truly been amazing to experience that with them because those are obviously the closest people you have in your life. So it's been amazing. Just all hard work has paid off, and it's continued to pay off, and we still have a long way to go. I mean, this is just the start. So just look forward to keep on doing it with them.”

On what he has learned from his brother coming into a new situation and being a leader…

“Yeah, so I saw firsthand, obviously I was at Indiana, he transferred in the spring, and he experienced it all. So I saw how he did it, what the ups and downs he had and ups and downs are okay in spring, know, coming into offense, maybe struggling one day, maybe doing great the other day, you've got to stay level headed. I think that's one of the biggest things that I learned from him is just you're going to have a rough day, you're going to have a good day. Spring might be terrible, mean, but as long as we're ready to go by game one, that's all that really matters, and I'm just embracing that fully, and the spring has been great so far team has been great, the culture has been great, and it's more than ever expected. So it's been awesome.”

On the culture of Georgia Tech…

“Obviously, coach key the culture he harps the way he runs his program is top-notch, I mean, it's one of the top cultures that I've been around so far. I mean, I would put it up there with a national championship program. Just that really stood out how coach Winky recruited me and how the players, it was a quick process, so you're kind of betting but being here for the last couple of months I've embraced it, and it's been just like that. If everyone wants to be great. Everyone wants to be better. Everyone's supporting each other. We're really a family, a close-knit team. That's what the best teams do. They're very close, they're very, like, just very close.”

On if he has done anything fun in Atlanta…

“Yeah, I went to the Masters. My brother came down, so we went to the Maxwell Award that he got, and just going out to dinner with some of the guys, just hanging out, playing video games, just doing that stuff, just having a good time. So it's been awesome.”

On how he handles his last name…

“I mean, he's Fernando Mendoza, I'm Alberto Mendoza, we're two different people. What he's done is totally separate from what I'm gonna do and what is expected of me, I mean, at the end of the day. I mean, I'm coming in here as Alberto Mendoza; no one really cares about my brother. That's a whole other person; they don't know him, they don't think about him. So I wasn't recruited here because of Fernando, I was recruited here because of myself. I'm excited to show what I can do; that's the biggest reason why I'm at Georgia Tech, now, to be able to get on the field and show what I can do this fall, and I'm really excited.”

On high processing skills and being a gym rat…

“Yeah, obviously it comes from last year, just learning under my brother, showing me how to do it because coming as a freshman, no freshman knows how to operate their process should be. Just seeing that last year all last year spring summer fall from my brother is where that came from. I'm just kind of copying the blueprint and kind of putting my own little touches on it on how he got there and how he succeeded because we're pretty similar, although we're very different, we're pretty similar. I think they were brothers, so just following that is really gonna help me take that next step. Hopefully so, I’m excited.”

On how he ingratiated himself with his teammates…

“Yeah, just being a guy means just showing them that you're being relatable and just showing them you're one of them. You're not better. You're not worse. You're just a guy. I mean, I don't come in here thinking my last name is hot. I mean, I'm Alberto Mendoza. We're people then, and I don't really care what my brother's done, what people think of my brother. I mean, I'm me, and I came in here just trying to be me. That's all I can be at the end of the day, and they embraced, and if they can embrace me, they cannot embrace me. They've embraced me really well so far, and I've embraced them. So it's been an awesome locker room.”

On how much high school careers with his brother parallels each other…

“I think it's definitely brought us to where we are today. I mean, my brother was a low-star recruit. I was a low-star recruit. I ended up going to Indiana because I was committed to JMU, and Coach Cignetti brought a couple of people over. I think just starting at the bottom, not being a four or five-star, my brother was a two-star, I was a low three-star, not having any Power 4 offers. I think that we just, put our heads down to work. When I was going into my junior year of high school, I wasn't supposed to be the starting quarterback. There was a big-name quarterback that transferred into my high school, and I was like, listen, I'm just going to put my head down and work and compete, follow the process and end up working out. So I think that's the biggest thing, just following your process at the end of the day.”

On his development and being comfortable behind the center…

“Yeah, I think it's definitely improved. I mean, that's the goal for each and every day. I mean, obviously, coming to new offense, it's gonna be a little foreign. You're gonna try to figure out what to do in the offense. So, you're trying to think a little bit too hard instead of just playing. I think that comes more naturally as you get more reps in the offense. As spring has gone on, I think we still have a lot of, I have a lot of place to improve. The offense has a lot of room to improve. And I think it should just take that next step each and every day to be in more comfortable in her center is really the biggest thing for me this spring and I think we're making strides especially in the last couple of practices just getting used to the offense getting used to the guys the timing and you know when is Jordan Allen gonna break when is Javian Plummer gonna break when's Dalen Penson gonna break when are all those guys gonna break just be able to throw that anticipation I think is the biggest thing.”

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