We need to slow the Josh Hoover hype train down just a little bit, folks... For as much promise as he brings into Bloomington, he has the impossible task of being the one to replace Fernando Mendoza under center. Mendoza, who replaced Kurtis Rourke, came over from Cal to become the greatest player in IU history, all in one year's time. Mendoza is expected to go No. 1 in the 2026 NFL Draft.
To add even more pressure to Hoover's plate, Cody Nagel of CBS Sports has Hoover not only exceeding during his final year of college football at Indiana, but will be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft when all is said and done. This would mean Indiana would have had back-to-back No. 1 picks. The last team to do this was Oklahoma with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray in 2018 to 2019.
While Indiana looks to be the better program right now than Oklahoma, we are talking about one of the three best programs in the history of football before recent conference realignment here with OU. The Sooners would regularly win the Big 12 and have its star quarterback win the Heisman Trophy. Should Hoover follow perfectly in Mendoza's footsteps, then that would be utterly sensational for IU.
At this time, we need to slow down on praising Hoover before he even throws a pass for the Hoosiers.
Josh Hoover continues to get insurmountable praise coming to Indiana
Look. This is not meant to disparage the guy. It is meant to give him some leeway, some time to figure things out with his new team. While Hoover was a prolific passer for TCU, that was in the Big 12. This is the Big Ten. The stakes are much higher in this Power Two conference than in his previous Power Four. While Mendoza had some hype coming over from Cal, who could have seen last year coming?
The really challenging part in this is while Hoover may be every bit as good of a passer or athlete as Mendoza, who has the enthusiastic personality of Mendoza to begin with? The more athletic version of Kirk Cousins is slated to do great things for the Las Vegas Raiders, but we need to see him be drafted No. 1 overall first. Hoover could be a first-round pick in 2027, but he needs to ball out first.
To tie a bow on this, Hoover may be going to a place picture-made for transfer portal quarterbacks, but the college football world is going to adjust just like Indiana has. Yes, this should be a team back in the playoff again next year. However, to think that Hoover will be a carbon copy of Mendoza is too much to ask right now. If he looks like a star during spring practice, then maybe we can crown him?
For now, let's let Hoover be himself, and not thrust all of the Mendoza comparsions on him right away.