By going a perfect 16-0 and winning the National Championship last season, the Indiana Hoosiers took the college football world by storm in dominating fashion. It was one of the best seasons in college football history, and officially capped arguably the most impressive turnaround in sports history.
But with great success comes salty fans other programs jealous of Indiana's success. Many pointed the finger of Indiana's winning ways under Curt Cignetti to "buying players," but the evidence simply doesn't support that claim.
Indiana fans just got a new reason to worry about Texas' push for 5-star Monshun Sales
Naturally, Fernando Mendoza's estimated NIL earnings were closely-followed, but the Heisman Trophy winner says he actually took a "huge pay cut" to play at Indiana. Instead, he opted to focus on his potential development under Curt Cignetti. It's safe to say that moved paid off.
Fernando Mendoza chose to focus on development over money at Indiana
Appearing on "The Rush With Maxx Crosby," Mendoza discussed the NIL offers he received when he was in the transfer portal last offseason. Other than Indiana, Mendoza's list of contenders in the portal included Georgia, Miami (FL), and Missouri. It's been widely known that Mendoza had more lucrative financial offers from those other schools, but now Mendoza is going into more detail about why he didn't take those offers.
When talking about choosing Indiana when transferring away from Cal, Mendoza makes it clear that the Hoosiers did not present the best financial offer. "Honestly, like, being with the transfer portal and NIL, it was actually a huge pay cut from the other schools," said Mendoza. "But it was, I believe, looking back on it, it was the right decision."
Instead, Mendoza chose to focus on the potential development that Cignetti and the Hoosiers could provide.
"Indiana really sold me on developing me. Everyone else is like, 'Hey, we're gonna win a national championship, we're gonna win this.' I just knew I was a raw prospect at that point, like I still needed to work a lot, and [Indiana] said we're gonna develop you and you're gonna become the best version of you, which is going to best serve your teammates. So, if you want to come here, we can't promise you all this other stuff, but we're gonna promise we're gonna push you and we're gonna make sure to refine you into the best quarterback you can become this year."Fernando Mendoza
That development has become a signature staple for Cignetti's tenure at Indiana. Mendoza put up gaudy numbers across the board last season, as he threw for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns while throwing just 6 interceptions. Furthermore, he added 276 yards and 7 touchdowns on the ground en route to winning the Heisman Trophy.
Indiana's NIL valutaion wasn't near the top of the list in 2025
The fact of the matter is that Indiana was nowhere near the top NIL spenders in the country last season. Specifically, 247Sports projected that Indiana wasn't even in the Top-10 of the nation's biggest spenders last season.
Based estimated NCAA data, Indiana's NIL expenditures last season totaled around $13.6 million. That ranked No. 12 in the country and 4th in the Big Ten. Other Big Ten schools ahead of Indiana included Ohio State ($20.2 million), Michigan ($16.3 million), and Penn State ($13.7 million). The No. 1 spot belonged to the Texas Longhorns with a total NIL valuation of $22.2 million.
NIL is here to stay, and moving forward, Indiana has shown it is willing to provide the resources necessary to build a competitive roster. But Cignetti doesn't need to be near the top of the NIL valuation rankings. He has an elite eye for under-the-radar talent, and has an effective system in place to put that talent in a strong position to succeed. Look no further than Mendoza's campaign last season.
Mendoza is now off to the NFL after being selected by the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft this past April. He signed a four-year, fully guaranteed $57.27 million contract, which is the richest ever for an NFL rookie. So yeah, his decision to take less money to come to Indiana continue to pay dividends.
Add us as a preferred source on Google