Who is Fernando Mendoza?The NFL Draft sensation no one could have predicted

Mendoza Maniahas arrived in the NFL.

Theprojected No.1 overall pickin this year’s draft, Fernando Mendoza, brings one of football’s most unexpected stories to the pros.

Legendary football agent Leigh Steinberg, who has represented an NFL-record eight first overall draft picks, believes what sets Mendoza apart from the other hyped prospects is his words.

Heisman Trophy winner, national champion, and the NFL’s next big thing?

Mendoza’s grandparents fled communist Cuba

The reason Fernando Mendoza is in the U.S.and making his mark on football history is because of a bold decision by his grandparents decades ago.

After Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba and installed a communist regime, all four of Mendoza’s grandparents fled the country and came to America.

“We all thought it was temporary,” Mendoza’s maternal grandfather, Alberto Espino, previously toldThe Washington Post.“There was no way the United States would allow a communist regime 90 miles away.”

But Castro’s reign endured, so Espino and the Mendozas remained in the U.S.and built their life as Americans.That meant American sports.

Mendoza’s parents were star athletes

Both of his parents grew up inMiami, Florida, as the children of Cuban refugees.

Mendoza’s father, Fernando Mendoza Sr., was a rower at Brown University and a 1987 Junior World Championships gold medalist.

But Mendoza’s father also played football when he was younger, and was teammates withMiami Hurricaneshead coach Mario Cristobal at Christopher Columbus High School during the 1980s.Mendoza would go on to defeat his father’s former teammate in this year’s CFP national championship game.

Meanwhile, his mother, Elsa Mendoza, played tennis at the University of Miami.

When Mendoza was a child, his mother was diagnosed with a serious disease.

Mendoza was born inBostonin 2003 as the first of his parents’ three children, before his family moved back to Miami, where he would grow up.

But when Mendoza was only about 4 years old, his mother was diagnosed withmultiple sclerosis.It’s a chronic, autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that can affect the brain and spinal cord.She has spent the last few years in a wheelchair.

Elsa Mendoza wrote about the experience in a 2015 letter to her sons that was published in The Player’s Tribune.

“I was diagnosed about 18 years ago, but of course you never knew that.You and Alberto were so young, and I was doing fine… and mostly I didn’t want you to worry.It just felt like this impossible thing to place on you guys.On my sweet boys.And then I kept doing fine until about 10 years ago, when we went skiing and I broke my ankle and knee,” she wrote.

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“But even after that, I wasn’t quite ready to tell you — only that my leg hadn’t healed all the way, which is why your mom had her limp.It wasn’t until five years ago, when I got Covid, that things started to go downhill in a way where there was no more hiding it.It was during football season, and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to travel.And the thought of you wondering if I supported you any less, because suddenly I wasn’t at your games?I hated that.So that’s when I knew we had to sit you and your brother down.”

She went on to recall, “how hard of a conversation it ended up being.‘Your mom has this degenerative disease… and while we don’t know how it will progress, it’s going to start to affect us in a few ways.But it won’t affect us in the ways that matter.We’ll have each other, and love each other, and be there for each other.I promise.'”

He grew up Catholic, and went to an elite Catholic school

As a young boy, Mendoza would gather mangoes from his grandparents’ yard and sell them door-to-door to his neighbors.

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza looks to throw a pass during the school’s NFL pro day in Bloomington, Indiana, on April 1, 2026.(AJ Mast/AP Photo)

Not only did he embrace capitalism as a young man, but he also embraced Catholicism.

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He later followed in his father’s footsteps of playing football at Christopher Columbus High School — an elite, $18,000-a-year all-boys private Catholic school with a football program.

As the team’s starting quarterback his senior year, he led his team to an 11-3 record and the 2021 FHSAA Class 8A state semifinals.

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But it wasn’t enough to earn the affection of many college scouts.

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As a two-star recruit, Mendoza was ranked the 2,149th-ranked recruit in the country in his high school class.He didn’t receive a single FBS scholarship offer.

He passed on Yale for Cal Berkeley

With limited offers out of college, Mendoza nearly accepted an Ivy League education and non-scholarship football spot at Yale.But instead, he went across the country to try his luck at California, Berkeley.

He wasn’t handed the starting job on day one;instead, he redshirted, studied the game, and quietly earned hisbusiness degree from theprestigious Haas School of Business in just three years.

As a quarterback, he earned the starting job in 2023 and 2024, becoming Cal’s all-time leader in completion percentage (66.4%) and tying for seventh in 250-yard passing games.

California Golden Bears quarterback Fernando Mendoza stands on the field after the game against the Arizona Wildcats at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley on Sept.24, 2022.(Darren Yamashita/USA Today Sports)

But hiscollege footballcareer hadn’t even really begun.

The Indiana decision

In 2025, Mendoza made the decision to transfer to Indiana.What followed is considered one of the most unlikely runs in college football history.

He threw for 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, and only 6 interceptions, completing over 72% of his passes, while also adding seven rushing touchdowns, andwon the Heisman Trophy.

“It’s very often not until the end of their [college] career that they show exactly those qualities.So a lot of maturation happened,” Steinberg said of Mendoza’s senior-year surge.“There have been a number of players who were late bloomers… you’re getting them at the height of their arc, and they put it all together.It takes time to read defenses and see the field.”

Then when the playoffs started, he cemented his name in college football history.He threw eight touchdowns with only five incompletions in the initial playoff games against Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.

In the national championship game, played in his home town of Miami against his hometown university Miami Hurricanes, he was named theCFP National Championship Offensive Playerof the Game, delivering a crucial 12-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run to seal the title.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza holds up the trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Jan.19, 2026.(Mark J.Rebilas/Imagn Images)

Indiana became the first team in modern college football history to go a perfect 16-0 behind Mendoza’s leadership, making a case for one of the greatest CFB quarterback seasons ever.

Now the real work begins

With theLas Vegas Raidersset to pick first in the NFL Draft this year, Mendoza appears destined for Sin City.

Steinberg believes the fit will work out well football wise and business wise.

“He’s a perfect pick for the Raiders because he’s someone they can build a franchise around.He seems to have the proper leadership skills and motivational ability to lead a team.He’s high character, he’s got physical size.He’s got great arm strength.He’s indicated a number of times that he can bring the team back in critical circumstances,” Steinberg said.

“As a marketing proposition, Las Vegas is the hottest sports town as there is in America… It’s a good environment to be in with supportive fans and companies for sponsorships and endorsements.”

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Mendoza has already filed 12 trademark applications.These filings include his name, “Fernando Mendoza,” “Mendoza,” “Flippin’,” and “HE15MENDOZA,” aimed at covering athletic apparel and merchandising.

“By picking 12 different areas, that pretty much covered the field.And that means that nobody can go ahead and put together distinctive Mendoza [merchandise] without dealing with him,” Steinberg said.

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Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.