There's a ton of 'brotherly love' coming out of Bloomington.
Fernando Mendoza on brother Alberto's future: 'I know how good he is' originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza did not dodge the question.
When asked what he told his younger brother, Alberto, after Indiana added quarterback Josh Hoover, Mendoza answered calmly and without hesitation, framing it less as a warning about depth charts and more as a reminder of what Indiana has become under Curt Cignetti.
“I would say that it’s really easy to get mixed up, especially with the portal stuff,” Mendoza said. “However those guys aren’t [here yet]. Props to them. I think they’re all great players. However, they’re not a part of this team right here. Coach Cignetti does a great job of putting the blinders on. Everyone is getting to compete.”
It was not a speech. It was experience talking. Mendoza lived that reality himself when he arrived in Bloomington, where nothing was guaranteed and everything had to be earned.
“Whoever you are, you’re going to compete, especially in this program,” he said. “That’s something that I learned, that I was not handed the job going into this program.”
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From Mendoza’s perspective, Indiana’s aggressive work in the transfer portal is not noise or insecurity. It is intention. Programs chasing championships reload. Programs standing still do not.
“We all realize that transfer portal stuff is great,” Mendoza said. “Indiana is reloading, as they’re a great college football program. We’re focused on the National Championship.”
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“You reload in the transfer portal to be in the National Football Championship,” he continued. “We know how much it means to Hoosier Nation and to my teammates. So we’re really just focused on this team right now.”
When asked directly whether he believes his younger brother Alberto Mendoza will eventually win the starting job, Mendoza did not hedge. He did not qualify it. He spoke like a quarterback who knows what elite preparation looks like.
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“I am always confident that Alberto Mendoza is going to be the best college football quarterback,” he said. “I know how good he is.”
Still, with Indiana on the doorstep of history, Mendoza made one thing clear. Praise and projections can wait. The present is all that matters.
“However, right now all my prep is on the National Championship Game.”
Miami and Indiana will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday night. ESPN has coverage of the title game (Available on FuboTV).
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- Aiden Fisher isn’t satisfied: Indiana’s historic season means nothing without a title
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