Cal Golden Bears redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza officially announced his decision to enter the transfer portal earlier this week and the Indiana Hoosiers are actively pushing to land the quarterback in the portal this off-season.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound redshirt sophomore is expected to be one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the portal. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining in his career.
Georgia, Indiana, UCLA, and Wisconsin are contenders for Cal transfer QB Fernando Mendoza, per @PeteNakos_👀
— On3 (@On3sports) December 12, 2024
Mendoza passed for 3,004 yards, 16 TDs, and 6 INTs this season.
Intel: https://t.co/PhkKMtPJxs pic.twitter.com/9qHVnq69h4
Mendoza was the third-leading passer in the ACC this season with 3,004 passing yards on 68.7% passing, 18 total touchdowns and 6 interceptions over 11 games, for Justin Wilcox and Cal.
The Miami native high ties to Indiana with his brother Alberto, is a backup quarterback and freshman currently on the IU roster.
Indiana was successful in year one recruiting a transfers and landed a top portal quarterback in Cignetti’s first season in Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke.
Rourke went 11-1 in the regular season and completed 202-of-287 passes (70.4%) for 2,827 yards, 27 touchdowns and four interceptions on his way to All-Big Ten second-team honors.
Out of the 21 recruits from the 2025 class IU did not sign a single quarterback and with Tayven Jackson as back up along with Mendoza and four star recruit (2024) Tyler Cherry Indiana is pretty solid at quarterback. That likely wont stop Cignetti from still dipping into the portal in today's age of college football.
“We have two young quarterbacks in the program that we like, Tyler Cherry and Mendoza, so we didn’t feel a real need to sign a young quarterback this year,” Cignetti said. “We’ll definitely recruit a quarterback out of the portal.”
Keep an eye out for Fernando Mendoza to land with the Hoosiers, soon fingers crossed.