CFB eats up sibling stories like popcorn at a bowl game, and we all saw it after the Sanders brothers’ Colorado run. But now the Mendozas take center stage, poised to reshape Indiana’s fortunes under Curt Cignetti. With Kurtis Rourke’s departure leaving a gap at quarterback, Cignetti needs a player who can maintain his “Google me, I win” claim. And last season’s remarkable turnaround from 3-9 to 11-2 set a high bar, and Fernando Mendoza appears ready to keep the wins coming. His move from Cal? Is it the opportunity to play alongside his brother? Or there’s more to it. Add in their mango-tree childhood grit and a competitive fire born of Cuban heritage, and Mendoza didn’t just make a move—he made a mission.
The 6’5, 225 lbs redshirt junior joins his brother Alberto Mendoza in Curt Cignetti’s QB room. But his move to Indiana wasn’t just about family ties. While his stats show why he’s Cignetti’s first choice with a 68.7% completion rate, throwing for 3,004 yards with 16 TDs and 6 interceptions, plus he also rushed for 105 yards and two scores, Fernando Mendoza had bigger plans for himself. What’s that? Talking about it to Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports, Fernando was nothing but honest. And just so you know, his decision wasn’t that easy, given his deep affection towards the program.
“It was a very tough decision to leave Berkeley. I love the community there, the school, the Calgorithm—all great supporting factors of the Cal community—and the Berkeley, you know, education system was just splendid. So before I left, I needed to make sure that I got my degree, having such a prestigious degree at the Haas Business School, and that’s something that I’m working on right now to finish around the summertime at this point,” Fernando said. So, completing his degree still remains one of his top priorities. But then, after reflection on his long-term goals, he knew Fernando Mendoza knew he needed a fresh start.
And that fresh start is Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers for him. “Whenever talking to scouts or hearing or just honestly analyzing my own game, I realized I needed to develop as a quarterback into a pro-ready quarterback and really align with my NFL goals,” he said. We all saw how well Cignetti developed Kurtis Rourke last season, but it wasn’t even half of it. “You know, we moved Kurtis Rourke 0.25% of the time last year. Not even one percent. Everybody knew where he was launching it from,” Cignetti said. Just imagine what he is going to do with Fernando Mendoza’s prototypical pocket-passing ability.
Let’s be real: when you have your brother already in the locker room, the decision gets ten times easier. And that’s what happened with Fernando Mendoza. No hustle, no confusion. “So the portal nowadays is like speed dating. You’re there for one or two weeks rather than a normal high school recruitment, which is six months to a year or two years. So in these one or two weeks you’re trying to find out as much information as possible about each school, and that was extremely easy for Indiana, as my brother was here and knows all the intricacies of the school, the good, the bad, and the excellent,” he said.
Look, everything looks pretty aligned for Fernando Mendoza heading into Indiana, but let’s not forget he had some tough times in Cal, which might be a matter of concern for Curt Cignetti. Last season, he was sacked 41 times, the highest among FBS signal callers, so now you know how much damage he could do with his legs. But that might not be the case behind Indiana’s strong OL. Because it’s not every day we see Cuban players making an impact on the football field, right?
Fernando Mendoza is diving deep into his Cuban roots
Now, we all know how football as a sport has struggled in Cuba since baseball is their number one sport. The worst part is that professional football has been forbidden by the Cuban government since 1961. However, in 2016, Maikel Reyes became the first Cuban to be allowed to sign a professional contract with a foreign team, Cruz Azul Premier. But getting an opportunity to make a big name in football, Fernando Mendoza is nothing but grateful.
“It’s a huge point of pride, and all my grandparents were born and raised in Cuba, three in Havana and one in Santiago. And so I’m extremely grateful for all the hardship that they’ve been through coming over and the whole part of being an immigrant and starting from the ground up and really laying a foundation so myself, my brothers, and my cousins could all have a very fulfilled and opportunistic life,” Fernando said. But there are players like Zach Calzada who are making an impact on CFB and putting off for the Hispanic community.
Best part? Fernando Mendoza keeps trying to stay close to his family roots, and that’s exactly why he and his brother took a trip to Cuba. And that trip was pretty transformative for Fernando, as he said, “My grandfather is extremely engulfed in history, our family’s history. He always sends us emails and texts—I mean, he’s the best—about our family’s history. And so we actually took a trip back to Cuba, my grandfather and Alberto and I, and we went back, we saw some cousins who had ended up staying in Cuba, and just saw the community as a whole, and it was a very transformative experience.”
And why wouldn’t it be? That place lives rent-free in their memories. Fernando and his brother grew up with limited tech—just a Wii, and even that had parental time limits. This left them with plenty of energy and free time, sparking their creativity. Their backyard, their grandparents’ yard (just houses away), and even their “Cuban cousins’” yards were full of mango trees. They politely asked for permission to harvest extra mangoes, readily given due to the abundance. This led to a thriving little mango-selling business in their neighborhood.
“And so it was always going door-to-door sales saying, “Hey, we have better prices than Publix, better prices than Kroger’s, all other supermarkets. We’re here right now; we can give you a deal; we just need cash,” Fernando said. His Indiana move isn’t only to improve his game; it’s his way of giving back to the roots that raised him.
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