Georgia Tech QB Alberto Mendoza Details His Journey To Atlanta & How He Became A Yellow Jacket

The story of how the Yellow Jackets acquired Alberto Mendoza

Georgia Tech QB Alberto Mendoza | Photo Via Najeh Wilkins Ga Tech on S

One of the biggest acquisitions for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets this offseason, besides Justice Haynes, was acquiring Alberto Mendoza. There were a lot of questions at the time about whether they would acquire a quarterback after it got late in the cycle and the options began to dwindle. Georgia Tech missed out on a couple of targets and players who could have been fits for the program. However, the Yellow Jackets were very calculated in their move and knew they wanted it all along. The process moved quickly, and within a couple of days after the national championship, Georgia Tech had its quarterback with the experience they so desperately needed. Mendoza talked about the process of how he ended up at 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 to Georgia Tech and locking it in here. So happy I ended up here,” said Mendoza. 

As you can see, sometimes it comes in handy to have a former Heisman trophy winner and a top quarterback at the time to be your quarterbacks coach. Chris Weinke has a number of connections, and the one conversation with Mendoza helped in the Yellow Jackets landing the former Indiana signal caller. It very well could pay dividends, especially with how Mendoza prepares, studies, and even challenges coaches. Mendoza is an elite processor and knows how to move the offense forward, which is vital especially in a pro-style offense that has nuances intrinsic to how it is run, and you have to know how to adjust to what you are seeing quickly. Coach Weinke talked about Mendoza and what stands out about him. 

“There were a lot of unknowns when he got here, right? And so you never know. But  I do know this, that he's a high-level thinker. He can process information, and that's what we're looking for, especially in this offense with a lot of the adjustments we're gonna have to make at the line of scrimmage with the quarterback. He, in essence, lives in this building; he loves football. I think that gives him an opportunity to have success in an offense like this. Uh, he's a gym rat.  He loves the game, asks a lot of questions, and doesn't feel comfortable going to practice unless he has the answer. So elite release gets the ball out quickly and processes information. Better athlete than maybe most people would give him credit for, moves around really well, sees the field. So he's uh been a lot of fun to work with. He's one of those guys that challenges coaches, right? It makes us make sure that we're crossing all our T's and dotting all our I's, but he's got a chance to be a high-level player,” said Weinke. 

Georgia Tech sits in a good spot with a healthy quarterback competition. Now it will be time to see this week who will try to separate from the pack and become the starter in the fall. If Mendoza plays his cards right, he could be that guy for them, and to think it all started on the night of the Heisman Trophy presentation that was presented to his brother, Fernando Mendoza.