1 Year After Choosing Indiana Football, Fernando Mendoza Sees 'Two Different Players'

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — As Fernando Mendoza took his spot behind the wooden podium in Indiana football's team room at Memorial Stadium, he extended his left arm and tapped the Heisman Trophy.

Two days after Mendoza became Indiana's first Heisman winner, college football's most prestigious award rested on a candy striped tablecloth and featured white inscriptions on a silver plaque: "The Heisman Memorial Trophy presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust to Fernando Mendoza, Indiana University, as the outstanding college football player in the United States for 2025."

If the Heisman Trophy weren't physically present in Bloomington, and if it didn't have Mendoza's name engraved on its base, none of it would have seemed believable — even to his teammates.

During a Dec. 15 team workout, Mendoza's first since returning to Bloomington after winning the Heisman Trophy on Dec. 13 in New York City, several players approached the redshirt junior quarterback and told him they didn't initially see his Heisman campaign coming to fruition.

"Bro, when we saw you in spring, there's no way we ever thought this was possible," Mendoza recalled.

Mendoza arrived in Bloomington with lofty expectations — both internal and external — last winter after transferring from the University of California, Berkeley. He didn't initially meet them.

"He was actually more behind than I anticipated him being," Indiana coach Curt Cignetti told NBC Sports' Nicole Auerbach in November.

The 6-foot-5. 225-pound Mendoza needed significant development with his operation in the pocket, Cignetti said. He had a laundry list of areas to improve upon, including his poise, footwork, patience, trust in protection, field vision and ability to go through progressions.

Adjusting to a new offense, team and city, Mendoza made considerable strides throughout the spring — just like each of the three transfer quarterbacks who ran Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan's offense before him.

Before fall camp, Cignetti made a note to himself he thought Indiana could have a special season, but much depended on Mendoza's growth. Through two weeks of practice, Cignetti admitted he thought he'd have to re-evaluate the methods behind the Hoosiers' success.

Indiana held its second scrimmage Aug. 19, and the Mendoza-led offense "didn't have any success ... at all," Cignetti said.

"In my mind, I went in with the offensive staff the next day and we were watching the tape like, 'Boy, we're going to have to run the ball and do this, do that,'" Cignetti told Auerbach.

Then, Mendoza flipped the switch.

Over the final two weeks of fall practice, Cignetti saw "marked improvement" from Mendoza. He made strides with his footwork, pocket presence, processing and timing, and he started turning potential into production.

"I just think he got more familiar with the offense," senior running back Kaelon Black said. "Especially going through the spring — that was just his beginning — but after that certain point, it's just like, 'Man, he's really taking that step.' He definitely turned a tide, and we got a lot more confidence for him."

Mendoza's season started with a performance he said wasn't up to his standard, going 18-for-31 passing for 193 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions in a 27-14 win over Old Dominion. But the Miami native wet his feet and followed with a four-touchdown performance vs. Kennesaw State, which Cignetti said bred confidence and belief. Thereon, Mendoza built on his successes.

The result? An all-expensed trip to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony and a piece of hardware Bloomington never saw through the award's first 90 years.

Mendoza thought and prayed about the Heisman Trophy before the season. He knew of his candidacy during it. But not even he foresaw himself standing at the podium in Memorial Stadium's team room, wearing his baggy sweats and recapping perhaps the greatest individual accomplishment of his life.

"I think if we hooked everybody up in this room on a lie detector test and told them, 'Hey, do you think Fernando Mendoza is going to win the Heisman this year and we're going to be 13-0, Big Ten champs,'" Mendoza said. "The team has a lot of self-belief and unwavering belief, but I think it's tough to make those predictions.

"To be quite honest, first of all, I don't even know if I'm deserving of this, and I would have never expected this."

Cignetti described Mendoza's growth as "unbelievable," an honor Mendoza attributed to the coaching staff's ability to elevate him as a player to levels he didn't know he had within him.

"It's two different Fernando Mendoza's," Mendoza said. "It is two different players. You can ask any coach or player on staff. It's just a testament to the great team that I have around myself and the great coaches."

Mendoza chose Indiana in part because he wanted such a journey of self-improvement. He said in November other schools tried to sell him on season outlooks and the quality of their team. Cignetti simply told Mendoza he'd become the best version of himself.

Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of Mendoza's commitment to the Hoosiers. He feels he's taken substantial strides in his understanding of football, his footwork, his timing and anticipation and learning he need only make the right play, not a "superman play."

Life is much different now for Mendoza, a household name with a full trophy case, greater following and clearer NFL future. But he and Cignetti feel he's only just scratching the surface — and it's fair to wonder how special, how high-achieving, Mendoza can ultimately become.

"I've said this a number of times, but I'll say it again," Cignetti said in November. "As much as he has improved, he can still improve more."