Chris Huston (00:00.342)
fine. All right. The Indiana Hoosiers are 11-0 for the first time in school history and have one more regular season game to go against Purdue a couple Saturdays from now. Should the Hoosiers beat the Boilermakers they will move on to their first ever Big Ten title game matchup and then likely go onward from there to a second straight appearance in the college football playoff. One of the main reasons for this success has been the play of Hoosiers quarterback Fernanda Mendoza.

the redshirt junior who has 35 combined touchdowns this year and who joins us this week on the Heisman Trophy podcast. Welcome Fernando.

Fernando Mendoza (00:35.778)
Thank you so much for having Mr. Huston and really appreciate everybody on the Heisman podcast for having me on.

Chris Huston (00:40.084)
Yeah, we're excited to have you. Fernando, congrats on a fantastic season thus far. Your development over these past few seasons and throughout this year has been really fun to watch. Indiana has had a magical season. I want to know what it's like to experience all this from where you're standing in the center of the storm, so to speak. Has it just been a blur for you?

Fernando Mendoza (00:59.79)
Yeah, especially on the outside, it seems like a total blur and it's such a great opportunity that we're 11 and 0. And we're going to opportunity next week to go 1 and 0 again to make us 12 and 0. What's even more special about this opportunity is the people that we're doing it with. The coaches, the locker room, the support staff, we're all so intertwined and we get along so well that it makes it even more magical to have not only have a great season, but to do it with great people makes it more just so much more special for myself and my teammates.

Chris Huston (01:27.254)
Yeah, I can imagine. You know, you guys have really experienced the full gamut this year from the complete dominance over Illinois to the methodical dismantling of Oregon on the road to the late game dramatics against Penn State. When you look back on these first 11 games, what moment or moments stick with you the most?

Fernando Mendoza (01:43.406)
Yeah, I would say the three moments you brought up the Illinois game was huge. Iowa being from Miami and then playing in the Pac 12 NAACC. I wasn't aware of how loud Iowa got and that stadium was rocking. had great fans, such a great tradition waving to the children and they have a great defense and great team overall. that was that was a nail-biter as well. We won on the last drive there. Oregon, Oregon was great. They're the number three team in the nation at the time and they are top team in the nation.

Chris Huston (02:03.436)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (02:10.168)
That was great to see the resilience from our offensive bounce back. And Penn State, we were on upset alert there for a little bit. And we were able to pull it off. And I think that's what all good teams and great teams have is that resilience and the ability to, and it's not always going to go as planned, but the ability to get back on track, trust each other, and execute at a high level.

Chris Huston (02:29.738)
Yeah. You know, that late touchdown passed Omar Cooper to beat Penn State. People are still talking about it. I think it's going to be remembered in Bloomington for a long time. Can you walk me through what happened on that past Omar Cooper?

Fernando Mendoza (02:40.204)
Yeah, on my account, I think that's one of the best catches of all time in college football history and for sure the best catch of this year in college football. And I actually ordered a t-shirt. I'm waiting on my t-shirt so could wear it everywhere and it says the catch. could be proud that I know the guy who got that ball. And Omar's such a great guy. And to see him battle and work his butt off the entire off season and start having such a fantastic season. And what a great catch last, not last weekend, but the weekend before that.

Chris Huston (02:52.578)
Yeah

Fernando Mendoza (03:08.974)
It was so special to see that play. Penn State was giving us their all. They have a great defensive coordinator and Coach Knowles and he gave us cover zero the past two looks and we knew the third look we were getting cover zero. We wanted to hit the middle of the field and however their defender at inside leverage, is not ideal when you want to go inside and the guy is trying to defend the inside. So we had a great route by Coop. We had amazing protection from our running backs, tight ends and offensive linemen.

Chris Huston (03:27.126)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (03:38.296)
And I was able just to put it up there and Koop, I mean, he's from Indiana, so he has a background in basketball as well. He was able to grab that rebound right up, right near the goalpost. And I don't know how he got his feet in. I was in utter shock. I couldn't even believe it until in the plane. all hit me. Wow, he caught that ball. It was so shocking. It's such an epic comeback.

Chris Huston (03:53.97)
Yeah. Yeah. I was going to ask you about that. I saw the replay and I saw his foot that seemed to suspended midair, like for a second. It was really weird. What was your reaction when you finally had a chance to get a close look at his footwork in the back of the end zone after not seeing it for a while, you know?

Fernando Mendoza (04:11.372)
Yeah, Coop and all the other receivers in our team never cease to amaze me. They're just so talented and makes my job so much easier. And it's just such a pleasure as a quarterback to have those guys that you you don't always got to be perfect. You can put it in the radius and they're going to go get it. And that's and that's such a luxury to have as a quarterback, especially playing the top competition in the Big 10 and to see Coop make that catch. It's a video game catch. Usually when you see the two feet, usually see the first one pop down.

Chris Huston (04:27.134)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (04:39.645)
Yeah. Yeah. There is like an invisible pillow just kind of holding him up there. It was amazing.

Fernando Mendoza (04:39.832)
but he was like levitating one and doing the other one, a little bit of Houdini, so.

Fernando Mendoza (04:46.766)
Yeah, I mean there's a pillow with God and I know Coop's a big man of God and so am I so I mean we that's just It's just so crazy how it all happened

Chris Huston (04:53.789)
God was a Hoosier on that play. I'm curious how you approach this year coming over from Cal having to acclimate to this new setting, the new system, new teammates, new coaches. Did you have a method going in that you followed to kind of ease into it? Or did you just kind of go with the flow and let things hit you and, and, and, you know, adjust as it came.

Fernando Mendoza (05:11.522)
The transfer or college football, everything, especially in college sports right now is so hectic, so crazy. However, my whole thing that my parents instilled in me is always being optimistic and being positive and controlling the controllables. So whenever, you know, in the transfer portal, I went to different schools, Coach Ignatius really sold me on, you're gonna be the best Fernando Mendoza here. I can't guarantee the other things, but I can guarantee you I'm gonna develop you into the best Fernando Mendoza possible. And throughout my career, whether it was retro, freshman, playing,

Chris Huston (05:25.814)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (05:40.856)
to my retch your sophomore year to now my retch your junior year, every single year, what I strive on is improvement. I always strive on having an amazing off season where I am living in the facility, being able to get better so the next season I can have another breakout year, if that makes sense. In my mind, like a breakout year or a vastly improved year than the previous year. And so with that, you know, the help of the great coaching here.

Chris Huston (05:55.242)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (06:05.74)
teammates, my little brother who's also a quarterback who helped myself get acclimated to the playbook, to the locker room, to the Indiana weather, and all of the above. It's been so special for me and it's really accelerated and exponentially, you know, helped my process and development as we've seen that I've developed a lot every year that I play college football.

Chris Huston (06:25.505)
When you were looking at Indiana, what was it about Indiana and Coach Zignetti that was apparent to you that maybe wasn't as apparent looking at other teams?

Fernando Mendoza (06:36.558)
Yeah, I think that had the whole package as far as they had a lot of guys coming back and we're a very senior heavy team. So this was, I know that this is going to be their best shot. Evidently Indiana is always going to be a good football team and we're always going to reload. But I knew that, you know, there's a ton of leaders coming back, lot of captains coming back. We have a great head coach and coach Signetti, great OC and coach Shanahan. And we have a fantastic quarterback coach and coach Whitmer. And with all those three combined, I knew that I can't control the record. can, I can only control my part and

you know, thank God that we're 11 and now just because it's a culmination of so many good people and good schematics and teamwork working together. But I knew that I wanted to be developed. I want to be the best Fernando's that can become an Indiana gave myself the best shot. It wasn't a guarantee, but I was willing to roll the dice, risk it and give myself the best shot to become the best friend.

Chris Huston (07:07.318)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (07:27.039)
It must've been really cool to have your brother there to not only help acclimate you, but also to kind of give you the inside scoop about everything to say, you know, cause he's not going to, he's not going to snowball. Yeah. He's going to tell you exactly what the deal is. Right.

Fernando Mendoza (07:39.404)
Yeah, in recruiting, there's a lot of snowballing and that's nature of recruiting. It's with all the other schools I visited. I I appreciate my time there and the coaches there. However, my brother, it wasn't, I was able to get the good, the bad and the ugly. Although there wasn't many, you know, there wasn't much ugly or bad here in Indiana. I was able to get all the facts and all the details that I had to pull a couple of strings, get some at the other schools and to have him here and then to work with him all off season, to throw with him.

Chris Huston (07:41.654)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (08:02.335)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (08:08.652)
He's helped myself so much. mean, he's helped my technique. He's helped my processing speed. We've worked together. We've pushed each other. And at first when I was a spring ball, I'm like, wow, this guy like, it's like we're practice time. like, this guy's had better practicing me every single day. I gotta try to get on my high horse. I gotta get off my high horse and I gotta, you know, push myself even harder. And so we've pushed each other so hard at this point. I think that we both exponentially grown this season and to see the quarterback that he's become and the quarterback that he is going to be for the Hoosiers is special to see.

Chris Huston (08:21.377)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (08:27.094)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (08:38.092)
I just can't wait to see him become a better quarterback to myself because I'm confident that he will be.

Chris Huston (08:42.271)
There had to be some kind of leap of faith for the, for you too, as well. Right. You, had your pick of a lot of quote unquote, you know, blue blood schools picks, you know, some elite schools out there and Indiana had had a great year last year, but it was only the one year that they did it. So you had to have the faith that this was something that was. That was going to be a normal kind of thing, right? To help you kind of help bring you along, with, with their growth. Was it a big leap of faith for you? Or did you just, did you just kind of realize, Hey, this is going to keep chugging along.

Fernando Mendoza (09:11.118)
It was a huge loop of faith. was a huge loop of faith. I graduated Berkeley, University of California Berkeley in three years. At that point I had my degree. I was going under my fourth coaching change, offensive coaching change. And at that point I felt that it was time to make the leap of faith. However, it was so hard for me to make that leap of faith and even enter the portal in the first place. I there was a couple nights that I was just bawling. I was like, I don't want to leave and stuff like that just because it's so hard because...

the getting out of your comfort zone is how you grow. I knew that I needed to grow. However, get out of the comfort zone is so hard. And then when choosing between the Blue Bud schools, I was like, all right, Indiana is great. They've had a great season. you know, you know, the other Blue Bud schools are a lot more historically sound. They're safer. However, I knew that I couldn't control the variables. I know I couldn't control. I could control what school I go to, but I can't control, you know, what opponents were playing. I can't control the strength of schedule. I can't control.

Chris Huston (09:41.312)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (09:53.985)
Yeah, right.

Fernando Mendoza (10:07.694)
how the season is gonna go. There's so many variables within it. I just wanna become the best Fernando Mendoza I can become. If it's on a 12 and 0 team, that's great. If it's on a 10 and 2 team, that's great as well. So I just wanna become the best Fernando Mendoza I can become so I can help my team win as many games as possible.

Chris Huston (10:24.607)
Your finance or a business administration major and you're into finance, I guess this would be kind of similar to like you're going for more of a startup vibe versus like you're not, you're not going to go work for AT &T or, or, you know, the big tech companies you're going for this kind of up and coming startup. Is that kind of a similar kind of, is it a good analogy to, relate to going over to Indiana?

Fernando Mendoza (10:45.164)
Yeah, that is fantastic analogy. Funny enough, over in the West Coast, Berkeley and Stanford are two of the biggest universities that have a lot of startup founders. One of my freshman year roommates is a startup founder. And to see that all the startups, to see them blossom and bloom, I mean, it's a big risk. However, you know, could go to some of these companies that are going to be well established and more of a corporate structure. However, I knew that the leadership within, I want to see a startup because Indiana is still big 10 schools, still had a great gear, you know.

Chris Huston (11:12.55)
Sure.

Fernando Mendoza (11:14.808)
probably not as a big corporation as some of the others at that point last season and now has become if not bigger than a lot of those. It was a good leap of faith. However, I saw leadership and that's a big thing. A lot of startups actually work for or did some due diligence for a VC fund, which they invest in startups called the House Fund in Berkeley, which they invest in all like Berkeley startups. And a big thing of their and their vetting process and their due diligence within the company to see what companies are going to invest in and what companies are going to pass on.

Chris Huston (11:15.617)
big cooperation to some of the others at that point in the season.

Chris Huston (11:22.817)
It was a leap of faith, however, I saw the leadership. That's a big thing a lot of startups actually work for or did some due diligence for a VC fund, which they invest in startups.

Fernando Mendoza (11:44.206)
is the leadership. It's learning how the leadership is doing workshops with the leaders to see there's going to be obstacles, there's going to be problems, but to have that direct and correlated leadership in order to steer your ship in the right direction. And that's what I saw in Indiana.

Chris Huston (11:45.195)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (11:57.474)
Yeah, you mentioned before having all these different office coordinators. What word would you use to describe Indiana's office of scheme? had to come in and learn that one really quickly. How would you describe it and is it an easy scheme to learn?

Fernando Mendoza (12:11.086)
Yeah, I think that any scheme is as easy as hard as you make it. I think that it's really the level of quarterbacking that you want to perform. I think Indiana has a very complex scheme. I think they very complex scheme. not comparing it to other, not comparing it to NFL scheme, but comparing it to other color scheme. think that what makes Indiana scheme is so special is the detail. It's the attention to detail. It's the fine prints. There's not a lot of gray area in the playbook.

Chris Huston (12:28.362)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (12:40.138)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (12:40.29)
which I love is a type A personality, the type A quarterback. There's not a lot of gray. So I know that, hey, on my third step, I got to throw it to this landmark. That's the timing for this route. It's not, you know, maybe it'll be this and that. There's direct rules and correlations. I think that's what makes Indiana Playbook so special is that you know what you're going to get. And it's really, I mean, the details are there and the coaches hold us to all such a high standard of accountability.

Chris Huston (13:07.189)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (13:09.346)
that those details are enforced in every single room. It's never gonna be perfect, but those details and the way that the coaches enforce them is what makes Indiana's offense so special.

Chris Huston (13:11.457)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (13:18.955)
when you make that kind of change going to a new scheme, is it mostly like the nomenclature that's different? Is it the point of emphasis on where you're attacking on the field? Is it what you're practicing in practice as far as like, we're gonna run this play 20 times and this play only three times. so you kind of know that we're gonna be great at this play and just kind of okay at this play. What is like the big difference in that regard?

Fernando Mendoza (13:34.381)
Well.

Fernando Mendoza (13:43.118)
So I would say football is generally the same. There's a lot of nomenclature. However, in the college world, you got a lot more variables. I was in an air raid system. I was also in a more like a run and shoot system as well. We come over here, we're mean, we're multiple here. We do a lot of things. do RPOs, we do play action, we do drop back, we do great outside zone runs, we do inside zone, we do gap scheme. So we do lot of everything here. I would say it's more of multiple system. But when learning the playbook, it is so important, like I said before,

know those details. And when I was able to go up there, basically every single day in spring ball, when we got here in winter, to study with some of the other transfers to study with my brother, and able to quiz each other on it, it created a sense of unity rather than we're not we're all home, and locked up in a room trying to learn the playbook by ourselves. It's, we have Ryan O'Kowsky to tie down, we're quizzing each other, hey, what's this play? What are the routes on this way? What are the depths? And you know, we're like going back and forth quizzing each other.

Chris Huston (14:37.725)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (14:40.662)
Or whenever we talk to my brother, hey, how are you seeing this play? This way it says in the playbook. Do you agree with this? Meaning that is this, is this how it wasn't a playbook? Has this evolved throughout the season? Depending on game plan. And so to have people like that around myself pushing and making learning the playbook fun and because football is fun and I love it. It is a fantastic experience to not only get adjusted to the nomenclature, which is just a general part of football.

Chris Huston (14:50.162)
Mm-hmm

Chris Huston (14:57.825)
and making learning the playbook fun and I love it. It was a fantastic experience. Not only did I get adjusted to the nomenclature.

Fernando Mendoza (15:10.018)
but also to really learn the system so I can be confident every single time I step foot on the field.

Chris Huston (15:14.785)
It seems like you're kind of naturally intellectually curious. Like it seems like you apply this mentality to football and it really, like you said, it makes football fun for you. I don't seem, you know, I've talked to a lot of guys over the years and I haven't seen many approaches like that where people focus on it being fun. Has it always been the way for you that way for you? Or is it something that, that you realize at some point and like, Hey, I got to look at it this way because otherwise it's going to be a real slog for me as I go forward.

Fernando Mendoza (15:39.694)
Yeah, my whole thing with having fun, I I think there's a lot of different definitions of fun. My definition of fun is being fully present in the present moment, in the now. And so when I'm able to do that while learning, that is like my top thing because I love learning, whether it's, you know, learning a playbook, learning somebody new and, create a relationship with a new friend, whether it's learning a new language or a new term in finance, whatever it is, I really enjoy learning. I think that's

Chris Huston (15:49.313)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (16:01.811)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (16:08.386)
the goal of life. always try to learn. always read every single night. And that's a big thing is I want to keep on improving like I have every single year in college football. And the way you do that is you keep learning and you're never on the journey of, I'm complacent. I've learned enough. I know I have still a huge way and long way to go. So the more that I could learn, the better.

Chris Huston (16:22.784)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (16:29.759)
You said you read every single night. What are you reading these days?

Fernando Mendoza (16:32.664)
So I read a couple books, a book that was recommended to me by our center, Mind Gym by Pat Coogan, and not by Pat Coogan, but Pat Coogan Center. then I'm also right now, this current moment, I'm reading a book, What You're Made For by George Ravelin. And it's a great book. He was one of Michael Jordan's mentors and he always talks about in his book, reading and the never ending journey of learning. And I think that through doing research,

Chris Huston (16:41.588)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (16:49.667)
yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (17:02.446)
to having a lot of, you know, to try to read more. It's not like I'm the perfect reader. It's not like I'm reading an hour every night, just like 10 minutes before I go to bed. But just kind of have that stoic approach of learning, being in the present moment and really enjoying life for what it is. It's been really special to me. It's really helped my football career a lot.

Chris Huston (17:07.893)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (17:20.993)
Are the Stoic something you follow, like Marcus Aurelius? Do you read up on those guys? It sounds like you have a Stoic approach to things.

Fernando Mendoza (17:29.422)
You know, I would love to sit here and lie to you on the podcast and try to be super smart. Like, yeah, I read Marcus Aurelius, you know, all the other, you know, great philosophers. But I will say that I can't, I can't really understand. Like I don't have, I'm not going to do the research as far as like, you know, reading the actual text, but I do follow people like Ryan Holliday, who really do take a stoic approach and translate it to the normal and average person.

Chris Huston (17:34.688)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (17:50.783)
Yeah, yeah.

Chris Huston (17:56.821)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (17:57.58)
wants to learn about stoicism. you know, I've read some of his books. And you know, I follow people like that. I was not so much on social media, but just follow their sayings. And I'll write something down on my whiteboard of a big whiteboard of my board. You know, I'll switch up the quotes. And just to kind of a way to live and a more of a mantra to live that day. Focus on the kind of get some more tools in my tool shed. So

Chris Huston (18:15.774)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (18:19.274)
Sure. Okay, I want to go back now to your early days a bit. When did you first realize you could throw better than most of the other kids?

Fernando Mendoza (18:25.74)
Yeah, are we talking young young?

Chris Huston (18:28.286)
Like in the, yeah, like when, when were you, when, know, every, every kid goes out there and plays sports. And at some point they're like, this guy can really throw it. He's the quarterback or he's the pitcher or he's, whatever. Like, was this really early for you or was it something that developed later on?

Fernando Mendoza (18:43.278)
It was something that developed when I first played football. was the third string quarterback, second string tight end, and I was the second string defensive end. was always trying to get on the field. And what I really thought, I mean, I'm looking back on videos of my youth, my youth football, evidently youth football players. I mean, now they're insane. It's crazy. The specialization that goes into youth sports nowadays, but I thought it was lot better than it actually was. I think that's

the unwavering belief and confidence that my parents instilled in me. They're like, Hey, Fernando, you got it. You keep on working the backyard, keep on throwing to the net. Cause I would just dive in as backyard. I throw my dad and my little brother, which is great. He resorts to have a little brother who also plays quarterback. Uh, whenever I was like in fifth and sixth grade, Hey, just keep on throwing to Alberto, keep on getting better. And to see that development and to see that I actually was pretty, I was kind of a liability out there. I was not very, you know, but to see that.

Chris Huston (19:21.972)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (19:35.904)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (19:40.204)
my parents really instilled that unwavering belief like, hey, I'm gonna be the best quarterback. I can fill the ball really well. I think it's really helped myself as a stepping stone in order to take that jump and take that development that I wanted in my life. And evidently, through the hard work and work ethic, which my parents have instilled in me and a great support system that has also instilled in me, I've been able to get a little bit better every single year. And that's my thing. I was better at throwing in seventh grade than I was in sixth grade, than in eighth grade.

Chris Huston (19:53.236)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (20:05.236)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (20:09.422)
And then in ninth grade, and after ninth grade, I wanna have my breakout year in 10th grade. And then after, you know, I wanna have a breakout year every single year. And I think that's just never ending journey of learning and just enjoying the process.

Chris Huston (20:19.584)
Incremental improvement can take you a long way over time, right? Yeah, there a point when Yeah, was there a point when you said, you know football might actually take me somewhere I can actually do something with it with this thing

Fernando Mendoza (20:22.518)
It does, yeah. Still a long way to go, the way,

Fernando Mendoza (20:33.806)
Yeah, so there was football is always very fun to me. And by fun, as I got a lot of satisfaction off of it, it wasn't as fun like, like some like little dopamine hits of like playing a video game fun, but it's more satisfaction of being with the team, working towards a common goal to try to, you know, take down the enemy and to try to score as many points as possible and a camaraderie that you're going to suffer. Sometimes you're going to have a heartache in defeat. And sometimes you're to have a glorious victory. And I would say that the

Chris Huston (20:45.696)
Sure.

Chris Huston (21:00.544)
Mm

Fernando Mendoza (21:03.214)
that I was really like, wow, I can make some in a football was my junior year after we won the COVID state championship. And at that point I was like, okay, like I can really get recruited because I was going to these college camps. I'd always go to the University of Miami camp because I live five minutes away from there. And I would just go because my parents sent me there was like a little summer camp, essentially. Other kids treated as a prospect camp. was like, oh, great. Like, you know, I get to throw the ball for from eight to four. And then I would go back home and, you know, make a sandwich and watch some DVDs. But

Chris Huston (21:18.09)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (21:21.408)
Sure. Yeah.

Chris Huston (21:28.286)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (21:33.174)
At that point, I was like, wow, I can really go somewhere. And when COVID hit, I didn't really have a good feel of where I was. would see all these kids on social media, be like, this kid's committed here. He's committed here. I'm like, wow, these kids are really, really good. know, like good for them. You know, I high-stack against them. And then after COVID kind of dwindled down, going into my senior year, I started going to these camps, starting to go to the Elite 11 regionals, not the finals, the regionals. And I was like, wow, like I stack up really well against a lot of these kids. And I could throw the ball if not.

Chris Huston (21:47.647)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (21:55.612)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (22:03.35)
as well, not a little better than some of these kids. So I can actually go. And then that summer I got my first committable offer to Yale. At that point I'm like, great, what a fantastic opportunity. I'm gonna go to Yale, I'm gonna get a great education and this is the great opportunity that football has blessed me with. Started to end up going on, we had a senior year, we lost the state semifinals, still a great journey with my brothers. And then after that, know, God bless me and the University of California, Berkeley offered me a full scholarship while other schools were, you know, deciding whether to take me as a walk on or not.

Chris Huston (22:05.088)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (22:17.256)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (22:29.141)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (22:32.878)
They offered me a full scholarship at a Power Four school and that was an opportunity that I could not resist and I'm still indebted for the rest of my life.

Chris Huston (22:40.126)
I heard a rumor that Alabama offered you as a preferred walk-on, is that true?

Fernando Mendoza (22:43.722)
Yeah, so so his name Alex Mortenson, who believes the coach at UAB right now. I can't I mean, if I'm if I misspoke, then you know, I'm I'm apologize about that. It's really hard to keep up with the craziness of football nowadays. But sorry, he offered me a preferred walk on at the end of this point. I've been offered by by Berkeley. But at this point, it was it was a great opportunity. I've been pretty funny because I know I mean, you know, the Heisman Trophy is the is, you know, in the background. But funny because

Chris Huston (22:52.244)
Yeah, sure.

Chris Huston (23:02.751)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (23:12.27)
Ty Simpson would have been the scholarship quarterback in the grade and I would have been the walk-on quarterback in that grade. So I mean, I mean, and I love, I mean, we watched a lot of Ty Simpson film here because just we have similar, we played Wisconsin this past weekend and they played Wisconsin and he's a great quarterback and I've seen his interviews. He seems like a great guy, but it just, it's kind of funny, like looking back, my friends joke about it. They were like, hey, he would have been the scholarship, he would have been the walk-on, you know, and stuff like that.

Chris Huston (23:16.17)
right.

Chris Huston (23:24.81)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (23:36.713)
Well, Ty Simpson might've had to transfer somewhere. So it's been talked a lot about. It's been talked a lot about this now about how you were a two-star recruit coming out of Columbus High. I checked your high school tape. I saw a lot of the traits you still show to this day. The arm talent, the athleticism was all there. So did the recruiting services just completely blow this one or in retrospect, were you still pretty raw? And so maybe, you know, some of that inattention was fair or was it just, they just completely dropped the ball, do you think?

Fernando Mendoza (23:40.43)
breakfast.

Fernando Mendoza (24:05.824)
Yeah, I would think that was a raw prospect. I was a raw prospect and I was also coupled with the point of the big recruiting at that point. I mean, now it's getting younger and younger, but the big recruiting was end of 10th grade sophomore year and 11th grade. Like junior year is a real year that, you get recruited, you get identified by colleges. think they're ranking kids in eighth grade now with all these stars and stuff. But when I was in high school, junior year was the real year. Hey, you're get ranked. that's when I go, that's when we get COVID. A lot of games canceled.

Chris Huston (24:22.601)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (24:30.782)
Yeah. Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (24:34.702)
lot of the recruiting people couldn't go out and see the prospects in person. And so, you know, although I would love to have been a five star, I would love to have been invited to the Elite 11 finals and all these other great accomplishments that some of my brothers in the class of 2022 were able to experience. I think it's the beauty of the journey. It's the beauty of coming up from a two-star recruit to then going to Cal as, you know, the lowest recruit in the Pac-12 at that point.

Chris Huston (24:54.462)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (25:02.304)
Amazing.

Fernando Mendoza (25:02.47)
and the lowest recruit on my team ranked and then ended up starting there and then keep on going and keep on going and keep on improving and becoming a raw prospect a little bit more refined. And I associate myself as a raw prospect. I associate myself as a raw piece of steak and I need to go and learn how to season it, learn how to cook it, and in order so I can become a ripe, nice, you know, there's debate.

Chris Huston (25:17.952)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (25:24.564)
You want to stay medium rare. You don't want to be well done, though.

Fernando Mendoza (25:27.798)
No, not well done. I think that at that point, obviously, there was a lot of trouble. A lot of put belief in those services. And those services, I think that they do a good job. However, it's so tough to project the kids' work ethic. And there's so many variables. At that point, they might be a four star. They might be a five star. I might have been the two star.

Chris Huston (25:45.46)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (25:49.182)
Yeah. And you can't look at, actually you can't evaluate everybody. There's thousands of prospects out there. You're going to miss people.

Fernando Mendoza (25:55.214)
Yeah, I mean, it's a really tough business. maybe at that point, you know, maybe the game that came, I played like a two star. But that's the that's the beauty of learning and growing. And evidently, I'm going to have the self belief that, you know, I'm always the best. No matter what, I know I got still got to get better. And in a humble approach, but it's at the same point that I have the unwavering confidence and belief in myself as well. So, you know, when I was ranked the two star thing wrong, I wasn't happy about it. I was a little pissed. I was like, oh, come on, I'm better than that guy. I'm better than that guy.

Chris Huston (26:20.436)
Yeah. Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (26:23.426)
But I was like, wow, what a great goal to work towards to prove people wrong.

Chris Huston (26:26.654)
When you did, how did Cal actually find you though? Was it all Bill Musgrave? Did he have his feelers out there? Did he have his connections out there? And he found out about you? How did that work?

Fernando Mendoza (26:36.174)
So there was a kid named Justin Martin who was committed to Cal. And at this point, this is when the transporter was really, it was getting, it was getting like roped in a little bit. was getting just started. Not a lot of people knew about it. It wasn't the craziness it is today. And he flipped from Cal to UCLA on late signing day or early signing day. And Cal like really believed that he was going to go to Cal. At that point, they were kind of dumbfounded like, oh shoot, like what do we do? And Bill Musgrave who's the OC and quarterback coach who, you know.

Chris Huston (26:43.2)
Just starting up, yeah.

Chris Huston (27:01.908)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (27:05.398)
I'm forever indebted to. He was looking for a quarterback and he at that point, he's a little more old school. The transfer portal was little new and we had Jack Plummer there who's quarterbacking the Panthers now. But that moment was going to be the start of the next year. And so I guess he was looking for a more developmental guy and he has fielders out there and he came down to Miami and worked out a little bit and he believed in me. He gave me a shot and when he offered me a scholarship.

Chris Huston (27:16.287)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (27:33.23)
He was like, I was like, whoa, scholarship, you sure? Like, and that I didn't say you sure, but I was more of like disbelief because a lot of people would offer me walk on such as, know, powerful, was like Alabama. And at that point I was forever blessed. I knew that I'd take the opportunity and run with it, whether it's getting on campus and getting to that position. I knew I was going to climb my way up the depth chart. And whenever I got that top spot or chance to in the game, I was never going look back and never get subbed out from that point on.

Chris Huston (27:36.957)
You

Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (27:56.245)
That must have been an amazing feeling to get the offer. You you once said though, that you suffered from some imposter syndrome early on in your college career. Talk about how overcoming that helped you blossom as a quarterback at Cal.

Fernando Mendoza (28:07.246)
Yeah, I think sports psychology is a huge part of my game and my development. I meet with a sports psychologist and I think it's not in essence where it's, hey, you know, my mentality is bad, so let's get it good. It's more, hey, I think personally, I think, you know, my mentality is good. Let's get it to an excellent and elite level. You see all these guys, especially such a terrible position as quarterback, they need it and they need it to blossom. And I've, you know, been able to meet

Chris Huston (28:26.612)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (28:36.448)
and great sports psychologists and great mentors, not even psychologists, but mentors, football mentors, former quarterbacks at Berkeley, they were able to help me be like, hey, Velovsky, Mike Velovsky has been huge. I meet with Mike every single week and he's been a huge instrument in my success, whether he was thrown, because me and Mike had a very similar journey. He was a two-star recruit, or I don't know, but he was lowest ranked Pac-12 quarterback.

Chris Huston (28:45.118)
Mike, Mike Pulaski, right? Yeah.

Chris Huston (29:00.095)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, he wasn't a big deal, but he had to work his way up and eventually became a great quarterback for them.

Fernando Mendoza (29:06.958)
Yeah, he got thrown in the fire. So at that point, I'm like, Wow, am I ready? He's like, me. He's like, Dando, trust me, you're ready. And so to have people around like that, it's a great support system and have unwavering confidence in myself, it really helped me go up and beyond and then posture syndrome. And he's like, Hey, if you have imposter syndrome, that means you're doing it right. That means you're not extremely arrogant, like, Yeah, I deserve this. This is my thing. It's more of like, Hey, like you've worked hard for this and you care about it. So to have that,

Chris Huston (29:29.088)
Mmm.

Fernando Mendoza (29:34.01)
sense of perspective and viewpoint from great mentors like Mike has been to me has been so special to help me catapult in my career.

Chris Huston (29:41.919)
Given your intellectual curiosity for these types of things, going to Berkeley, do you think that just, the fact that it was Berkeley and the intellectual environment that permeates there, do you think that was a big factor in how you developed it, specifically Berkeley and specifically that climate around the Bay Area that helped you?

Fernando Mendoza (30:02.83)
Yeah, I would say that a lot of people are products of their environment. And I think that in Berkeley, I was able to surround myself around a lot of good community and a lot of good people, especially that in Berkeley, you constantly get your ego checked, whether, you know, we just won the big game and I'm feeling myself and I'm like, oh, let's go, you know, great. And the person sitting next to me just got off a Ted talk in the morning. So it's like, wow, maybe I'm not that big of a deal as I am. I really got to keep on going and keep on learning and not only learning and getting better at football, but learning about

these skills and attributes that these other fantastic business students, roommates, friends all around Berkeley, they're attributed to their success in their respective field. And I think that's what helped me to take a multifaceted approach, not just a one way shot. It's a kind of take all these different, you know, advice, some that I've taken, some that I was like, I don't know if that applies to me. And to really have that opportunity to talk to so many intellectual minds and so many amazing people. And it's also been here the same in Indiana.

Chris Huston (30:42.656)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (30:53.216)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (31:02.04)
When I got here in Indiana, I've been able to learn so much from the leadership of Coach Cignetti, all the offensive coaches, and also great leaders on our team, like Pat Coogan, who was at Notre Dame last year, who's had a lot of great leadership lessons, Aidan Fisher, who was an All-American linebacker last year, and he's the captain of that defense. There's a lot of guys I've been able to learn from, and so it's not just football, and Berkeley, was able to learn from a lot of different sources of success, and then it's been amplified ever since I've got to Indiana.

Chris Huston (31:25.588)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (31:29.064)
You know, know you don't like to talk about the Heisman too much, but we are on the Heisman Trophy podcast and we are getting toward the end of the season. And let me tell you between the Heisman and the college football playoff, you were about to go through a media crucible. It seems like you're very comfortable talking to people. Are you planning on just riding the wave and having fun with it? Or do you have like a plan for dealing with these things?

Fernando Mendoza (31:51.468)
Yeah, as I mentioned previously in the podcast, my whole thing is in the present moment. Right now, all my attention is towards the Heisman podcast right now that I'm on. And I think that's great, you enjoy it. think looking ahead can give people a false sense of hope and a false sense of security and maybe everyone always wants to talk about the future, the what ifs. And to live like that is such a tough ask because you never know what's gonna happen. You never know and you can't control a lot of those things. So my whole thing is right now I'm focused on

Chris Huston (31:58.674)
Yeah

Chris Huston (32:10.75)
Hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (32:20.43)
know, Heisen podcast and having a great bi-week. I'm focused on, you know, although we beat Wisconsin, there's things that I can take from that film and work in order to become a better quarterback, a better Fernando Mendoza that I'm going to be to play Purdue next week. So right now I'm really just focusing on bi-week and focus on Purdue because they're a great football team. And that's all I put all my focus towards right now. I think it'd be a good, I mean, pressure and the media, it's a privilege. So I'm really honored to have, you know, the attention right now.

Chris Huston (32:38.912)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (32:47.158)
and I'm just extremely blessed and give all the glory to God always. But right now I'm just trying to focus on the present moment and just enjoy the time with my brothers.

Chris Huston (32:55.048)
Understandable. The Hoosiers have had one Heisman finalist that was running back Anthony Thompson back in 1989. Do you have any memories of Heisman winners growing up? Any players who caught your eye to sort of, you know, give you some motivation?

Fernando Mendoza (33:08.334)
Yes. So my dad went to medical school at UF and we actually, the roommates, we have a house here in Bloomington and we have Christmas tree and there's a picture of Christmas of myself and a Tim Tebow jersey. I was honestly, it was kind of a bandwagon. was like UF and UM fan at that young of an age. I didn't really know what was going on and realized that you couldn't like both teams. So I had a Tim Tebow jersey and so Tim Tebow has been

Chris Huston (33:16.948)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (33:31.764)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (33:37.422)
huge inspiration not only on the field, I say off the field as how he's always given the glory to God. All celebrations were always him kneeling. It's really set the foundation for myself being a part of a Catholic family. I think that's a good role model to look up to. In more recent years, Joe Burrow, my brother's a huge Joe Burrow fan. I'm a huge Joe Burrow fan. The way that he's played and operated that system with Joe Brady was absolutely fantastic. And I mean, who doesn't love Money Manzell either? there's Heisman's or

Chris Huston (33:48.988)
Mm-hmm

Chris Huston (34:03.381)
Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (34:06.654)
such a point of the football community and you can't really miss one. It's such an honor to even be mentioned in the conversation. And I just can't wait to enjoy the present moment and just ride the wave as it goes.

Chris Huston (34:22.11)
Yeah, okay, let's do a few rapid fire questions, get you out of here. When you're not thinking about football, what occupies your mind?

Fernando Mendoza (34:29.198)
Friends, where are we gonna go out to eat in Bloomington tonight?

Chris Huston (34:33.536)
Where are you going to go out to eat? Usually.

Fernando Mendoza (34:36.454)
I mean, we go to a lot of places. There's a lot of good local spots here. And I think it's just a camaraderie that we have our teammates. It's a good time, here, whether we're eating with offense linemen, whether we're eating in a mixed group with some defensive players, whether eating with just us roommates. It's always good to have that camaraderie. And after practice, go get a bite to eat and just talk about the week, talk about the NFL and just, yeah, have a good time.

Chris Huston (34:52.544)
Hmm.

Chris Huston (35:01.044)
You guys go check out the Hoosiers basketball yet?

Fernando Mendoza (35:04.078)
Yeah, we need to do that and answer by I love that. I'm definitely planning to go in a game this week. That is actually thank you for reminding me that is that. We played the first game was after the Penn State game. was market was Indiana basketball. A fantastic victory and so definitely gonna try to check out one of the games this week.

Chris Huston (35:09.92)
No problem.

Chris Huston (35:14.91)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (35:21.246)
You got a BA in Business Administration from UC Berkeley, already graduated. What intrigues you about the business world?

Fernando Mendoza (35:28.942)
of how multifaceted it is, getting a business degree, especially, I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you, but I know exactly what I wanna do. With that business administration, the mentors that I made in Berkeley, I believe that I'm able to go on the real estate field, the finance field, or whatever other field. Let's start like we talked about. Whatever field takes my passion after my football career. However, right now I'm focused on football and that business administration degree has helped me so much as I've taken leadership courses in the business school there at Haas.

Chris Huston (35:34.567)
Mm.

Chris Huston (35:40.734)
Mm-hmm

Fernando Mendoza (35:56.974)
There's been so many lessons like we've talked about that I've learned from classmates that my peers that able to implement in my football journey.

Chris Huston (35:59.878)
Mm-hmm What's your favorite pregame hype song if any

Fernando Mendoza (36:07.214)
Yeah, so a big thing with myself, especially quarterback means such a terrible position is I actually do not enjoy listening to music before the game. I love music. Just not right before the game because I need to be in a cool, calm state where I'm committed to the next play and I'm committed in this play the best play possible and execute the best of my ability. So before every game, I meditate and I listen to online mass.

Chris Huston (36:13.504)
Hmm.

Chris Huston (36:19.701)
Mm-hmm

Chris Huston (36:28.222)
All right. Well, who's your dream dinner guest, past or present?

Fernando Mendoza (36:32.046)
There's a lot of past that I'm definitely going to forget about. you know, don't want to, you know, so I'm just going to keep it to the present. The present, I would say my dream dinner guest is Tom Brady. He's someone that I've looked up to my entire life. And I really not only love his play on the field, but his resilience and the way that he's conducted himself throughout his career. was actually born in Boston, lived there one year for my dad when he was in medical residency up there. And he's been a special role model for myself and a special

Chris Huston (36:41.524)
Okay.

Fernando Mendoza (37:01.716)
know, I don't my my role model and my idol is my dad and my mom and I love them to death. However, football role model to follow is always Tom Brady as he's had such a resilience. And that's the thing that I think the Hoosiers have shown great this season, whether it's Iowa, Oregon or Penn State, resilience has always shown up. And that's something that I do attribute to watching Tom Brady growing up.

Chris Huston (37:19.604)
What would you ask him if you had a chance to meet him?

Fernando Mendoza (37:22.754)
You know, I don't want to quick fire any questions right now. However, I would need to think about it because, you know, he is such a busy guy. mean, he's broadcasting one of the best broadcasts in the games. He's the owner. He's the owner of the Raiders. And there's so many different things that he's doing. He's also a great family man as well. So I'm sure, you know, the time that I have with him or that if I were to have with him in this theoretical scenario, I want to ask him a really profound question, but it would definitely be, you know, I would definitely like love any advice in that sense.

Chris Huston (37:26.752)
All right.

Chris Huston (37:49.854)
Yeah. you have any superstitions on or off the field?

Fernando Mendoza (37:55.032)
Wow, you know, I try to keep the superstitions to a minimum because you know, they're not, they're not a controllable. However, I'd be lying to you if I didn't, I'd be lying to you if I didn't. I always, you know, text my parents and my family, group chat, like, love you guys before the game. I always pray the rosary every Friday with some of my teammates at church. I would say that I always, you know, tap the, we have a win sign here, tap it three times on the right before they get, like on the first half, half tap on the left time three times.

Chris Huston (38:20.686)
huh.

Fernando Mendoza (38:23.938)
And then also never step on the seal. That's something I learned in Berkeley, the hey, like very academic, proudest university. Don't step on the seal, because you're gonna fail your finals. It's not like, in fact, so after that, like I've never, I try not to step on the seal. Evidently you're gonna step through IU logo sometimes in the weight room and stuff like that, but like on the actual seal, you never step.

Chris Huston (38:29.855)
Right.

Chris Huston (38:40.349)
Yeah, well rituals are important part of life, know, so. OK. OK, I saw you used to have a podcast. I listened a little bit of it. If you were starting a podcast now, what would you talk about?

Fernando Mendoza (38:44.174)
Yeah, also before the day of the game. Coach, I'm yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (38:55.15)
Yeah, that podcast, it was a great experience in high school. were, we were kids and COVID locked at home. We want to do something, try to do something productive. It was a podcast. That was more of a community based podcast. And then it kind of turned into like, Hey, let's just have fun and talk to it. And you know, we're able to do some things and it was nice, but it wasn't like a huge effort, but it was today. Honestly, my, big thing about podcasting and why I love listening to podcasts so much is get to learn other people's.

Chris Huston (39:11.294)
Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (39:22.912)
opinion. my big thing is I don't want to have a lot of guests on there. Joe Rogan does. think Joe Rogan does a fantastic job of interviewing guests, getting them to tell their stories, making them feel comfortable. Hence where they could tell their life experiences and the viewers, they'll get Joe Rogan throughout the 500 or 1000 episodes and they'll get to know them. They'll get to love them. However, they'll really get to know the guests in their specific episode and be able to learn from them. And similar how we've talked about learning through my peers, my classmates,

Chris Huston (39:25.886)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (39:33.245)
Mm-hmm

Fernando Mendoza (39:51.756)
my football mentors, through my football coaches, through my teammates, through my parents. It's all about learning. think it'd be fantastic to have a podcast and have lot of guests on there.

Chris Huston (40:00.926)
Here's an interesting teammate that people don't know about that you wish you could introduce the world to or that you wish people would know more about.

Fernando Mendoza (40:08.022)
interesting as far as just personality.

Chris Huston (40:09.897)
personality, humor, something they do that people don't know about.

Fernando Mendoza (40:15.63)
Yeah, I would say we have a great group of guys here on the team. We have a great group of guys on the team here. And I would say, I'm just going to name a couple guys. I would say that Grant Wilson, he's a quarterback. He's helped me so much. I'm, I've, you a lot of people know Alberto, my brother, but you know, Grant has been a huge help with my technique and, you know, helping still a lot of the things here in the quarterback room. Say James Bomba, he's been here for six years, tight end.

Chris Huston (40:31.934)
Hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (40:42.092)
I would say another guy Bryson Bonds on the defensive side. He got injured early in the year, but he's a fantastic player and even a better teammate. And I'm just trying to think of guys that people would not know or not know, not like people know them, but not like on the mainstream media. Man, I mean, there's a lot of good, there's got Lincoln Murph always giving his best in scouting. Like it gives me a ton of issues. So I mean, there's really a lot of guys that, you know, I've really, mean,

Chris Huston (40:55.208)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Fernando Mendoza (41:10.87)
And honestly, everyone should know the whole O-Line room. I love the whole O-Line room. Just put it out there. O-Line, those are my guys.

Chris Huston (41:14.237)
Yeah. All right. Who's a teammate who's much better than people think or understand? Who's going to blow up next year, do you think?

Fernando Mendoza (41:24.833)
in college or the NFL, because I would say.

Chris Huston (41:26.175)
Yeah, in college. Like who's a teammate that's there on the Hoosiers right now who is gonna be a great player.

Fernando Mendoza (41:33.838)
I'm gonna speak from the office. I believe a lot of players are gonna have on the defense side, they're gonna break out. However, I'm just focusing on the offense. And so I understand what we're trying to get done as far as game plan. I know, I think I have a good idea, better idea of who's gonna go blow up. I would say two guys for sure is Charlie Becker. He's one of my roommates. He's had fantastic games and he's a fantastic receiver. Great game lastly, yeah, he had a great touchdown catch and a great deep ball post catch as well. he's a ton of other catches. So he's a really good.

Chris Huston (41:53.152)
Mm-hmm. had a great game last week, huh? Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (42:02.37)
really good hands, really reliable, explosive, really fast. I think that he's gonna be a lot better than a of people think. And I think Alberto Mendoza, know I always say it, and people are like, he's saying it because he's his brother. Like generally, if I were to show the world the spring ball footage and fall camp footage, you would think Alberto is the starting quarterback and I'm the backup. I mean, this kid is gonna be really good. His processing speed, his feel of the game, his feel of the game is unbelievable. And that's something that I've helped a lot, that he's helped me a lot with, and that's helped me develop a lot throughout.

And then I would say two players that are playing right now, they don't get enough credit is Pat Coogan without Pat Coogan and the entire line. this how Pat Coogan is so smart. He's, don't know if he's missed a call this entire year of meaning like the right identification. And I think that's why our run game, you know, coupled with our running backs talent, but our run game and just, I mean, he is such a smart guy and he's really helped us and we would not be, you know, 11-0 without Pat Coogan. And also I would say Aidan Fisher on defense, the way that he commands that defense is really special.

Chris Huston (42:43.167)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (42:59.475)
What's talent you have that few people know about?

Fernando Mendoza (43:02.798)
Ooh, talent. So if we're going to, I'm just going to put the question like this. If we're to go on a talent show, what would I do? You know, woof.

Chris Huston (43:10.419)
Yeah. Yeah.

Fernando Mendoza (43:16.78)
Man, this is a tough question, but.

Chris Huston (43:18.508)
Or what do you secretly think you're good at that you just don't really put out there?

Fernando Mendoza (43:23.118)
I think I think I'm really good at the game pickleball. I really think I'm good at the game pickleball. Oh, I think I'm really gonna ping pong. That's why I think I'm really good at we get really competitive here in the locker room about ping pong and I think it's a great way to nurture competition here. We play against the strength staff who play against the teammates. We even play doubles ping pong most of the time so it gets really competitive and I think I'm the best ping pong player on the team. That's just me that it can be controversial if you ask one of my teammates but I think you know I think I'm really good at ping

Chris Huston (43:30.601)
Ping-pong.

Chris Huston (43:53.088)
All right, we'll let you deal with the repercussions of that statement later. Finally, know, Fernanda, you've been involved in a lot of causes throughout your career. And one in particular you were involved in is the fight against multiple sclerosis inspired by your mom's or deal with the disease. partnered with a restaurant in Berkeley. Now you're doing the same in Bloomington. Tell our listeners about that and how they can contribute to this worthy cause.

Fernando Mendoza (44:16.418)
Yes. So my mom has a fight against multiple sclerosis and my mom is my light, my inspiration, my everything. I've probably talked to her about five times a day and she's the only reason that I've actually gone this far in my football journey to see her optimistic and positive approach with all that she's battling has given myself no excuse for any complacency throughout my life, whether it's academics or football or just being a good character and good person. And, you know, to see her fight and see her, you know, you know, struggle and then get

and get better is also, it's been so inspiring to myself. And, you know, there's a lot of people that I've known that have come up to me that know some of their family members have also filed multiple sclerosis. It's, and it's something that is very dear to my brother, my family. And there's, there's a page in the National MS Society that you're able to donate to the awareness and research of it, of the, of the general cause for everybody. And the society really just helps people who, you know,

for research and people who can't afford treatments to go and to help their multiple sclerosis. And it's a fighting, we're still trying to find a cure. There's no cure at the moment. However, very positive and praying every day that it gets better. So that's something that's very dear to my brothers and my heart. And that's my why I play football is for my mom.

Chris Huston (45:33.991)
You've raised thousands so far. can go to Fernando's Instagram page and find the link from there. Fernando Mendoza, thanks again for coming on the Heisman Trophy podcast. Congrats on a great season. It's been so fun talking to you. Thanks for, you know, pouring out your heart on a lot of things. Enjoy your bye week. Take a rest. And we look forward to seeing you in New York City.

Fernando Mendoza (45:53.848)
Thanks so much, Mr. Huston. I really appreciate it. Thank you guys again. God bless. Go Hoosiers.