Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza Scouting Report
The stars were bright, Fernando
Image 1: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) driving a ball downfield on a pass play
Height: 6’5
Weight: 225
Position: QB
Year: (RS) Jr
Background
Image 2: QB Fernando Mendoza (74) at the Football Hotbed National Sophomore Showcase
Born on October 1, 2003, Fernando Mendoza was a Three-Star QB prospect in the class of 2022 coming out of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. Ranked as the 134th QB in the nation, Mendoza was an overlooked prospect for good reason. A self-described “raw prospect”, Mendoza was an unrefined, unproductive HS QB who possessed P4-level arm talent, size, and mobility. A great student and Miami native, Mendoza’s initial offers came from FIU, Yale, and UPenn. Though initially committed to the Bulldogs, Mendoza would flip his commitment to Cal.
As a Golden Bear, Mendoza redshirted as a true freshman and would take over as the starter mid-season as a (RS) Fr. While the team went below .500 and he had inconsistent play, Mendoza flashed his arm talent and mobility when firing into tight windows or throwing on the run. After beating a graduate transfer in the following spring, Mendoza started the entirety of Cal’s 2024 season where the team went 6-5. Wishing to develop further with a stronger staff and roster, Mendoza entered the 2025 transfer portal as a Four-Star and committed to Indiana. As a Hoosier, Mendoza quickly would lead one of the greatest college seasons ever becoming the first quarterback to go 16-0 and winning the Heisman trophy. Fernando Mendoza enters the 2026 NFL draft as the clear QB1 and favorite for the first overall pick.
Athletic Tools
With a prototypical frame for a QB, Fernando Mendoza exceeds size and height thresholds for the position. By being naturally taller and larger, Mendoza is great at avoiding batted balls at the LOS and taking a hit in the pocket to ensure the ball gets out. As an athlete, Mendoza is peculiar as he is very awkward and stiff as a runner, yet he has solid acceleration and top speed to be a threat with his legs. While he lacks the fluidity and agility seen in the top of position play extenders (Ex. Purdy, Jackson, Mahomes, Burrow, Williams, etc), Mendoza is more than capable of making plays with his legs on rollouts or using rushing lanes. Mendoza is a big ball carrier who is willing to take contact, but he lacks the size and play strength to be a high-end tackle breaker. Mendoza’s legs are underrated, but he is unlikely to be a notable rushing or play extension threat in the NFL.
Video 1: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) delivering a pass with a free rusher in his face
Video 2: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) escapes the blitz by running through an open lane
Video 3: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) making a defender miss in space with a jump cut
Video 4: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) lacking the fluidity and twitch in the open field to force a missed tackle
In terms of his arm talent, Mendoza has a great arm. With long arms and great elasticity in his elbow, Mendoza generates a great amount of lag in his throwing motion that lets him throw with effortless velocity on his passes. While he does not differ often from his standard three-quarters throwing motion, Mendoza has shown the ability to adjust his pathing to an over-the-top motion when he does not have a clean throwing window and needs to go over his OL. Unlike other big-armed QB prospects, Mendoza is great at being able to throttle down his arm to place balls with touch and accuracy. By being able to generate so much velocity and power with just his arm, Mendoza is an underrated on-throw runner as he does not need a stable base or heavy amounts of hip rotation to deliver accurate, high-velocity passes. With how often NFL QBs are throwing on the move on play action, Mendoza’s ability to throw confidently while being on the move is going to be a big part of his game.
Video 5: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) using his touch to hit the hole shot
Video 6: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) using an over-top throwing motion to throw over his OL
Video 7: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) using his arm talent to complete a pass while not being able to rotate fully
Video 8: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) hitting his receiver in the hands while fading away with two free rushers in his face
Video 9: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) sees his RT get beat inside and throws on the run with pressure in his face
Video 10: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) rolls out and delivers a cross body throw on the run
Video 11: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) rolls out and has enough velocity to prevent the LB from undercutting the pass
Video 12: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) rolling left and throws cross body to his WR
Technicals
By being a taller and longer QB, Mendoza’s throwing motion is a bit unique. Unlike many QBs who rely on heavy amounts of hip and body rotation to generate power, Mendoza relies primarily on his arm elasticity and weight transfer to drive passes downfield. Though his motion is more similar to a spear throw than a traditional throwing motion, Mendoza does not suffer any on-field losses in accuracy, launch point, or velocity from having untraditional mechanics. Mendoza’s mechanics are functional, but I would not be shocked if he begins to engage more of his hips in the future to put less strain on his arm and generate more velocity on his passes.
Video 13: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) throwing with minimal hip rotation
For comparison to a more traditional throwing motion, here is Indiana’s previous QB Kurtis Rourke:
Video 14: QB Kurtis Rourke (9) throwing with a lot of hip rotation
My biggest technical gripe with Mendoza is his footwork in his dropback. By being a clumsier athlete, Mendoza has very slow, heavy feet when taking his initial drop and hitching while reading the field in non-quick game. Beyond just having slower feet, Mendoza has a bad habit of taking additional hitches in his drop back. Mendoza has moments where he goes off the wrong foot and functionally adds an extra hitch. With the timing of route concepts being tied to the drop of the QB, Mendoza needs to majorly clean up his feet to be on time with NFL passing concepts. Beyond timing, Mendoza has a bad habit of not setting his base when throwing after taking many hitches. Though he can get away with this on shorter concepts due to his arm, Mendoza needs to be more comfortable maintaining a throwing base when hitching.
Video 15: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) throwing purely with his arm due to sloppy footwork when hitching
Video 16: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) taking an extra step on a three-step drop and having heavy feet when hitching in the pocket
While some may say that Mendoza’s footwork could be a part of Cignetti’s scheme, I would argue against this as Kurtis Rourke performed very textbook dropback footwork last year in the same offense.
Video 17: QB Kurtis Rourke (9) taking a textbook three-step drop and steps into his throw
Despite having inherent timing disadvantages due to his footwork, Mendoza is an amazing anticipatory thrower. By throwing with anticipation before the target’s break, Mendoza does not allow defenders to react, which creates safe completions with space for RAC/YAC. Indiana’s scheme did not ask Mendoza to target over the middle of the field, but his ability to anticipate out-breaking concepts makes me confident it should also translate to in-breaking concepts in the middle of the field.
Video 18: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) anticipating the speedcut from the WR
Video 19: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) throwing the ball while the WR is faking inside
Mendoza as a processor and decision maker is very questionable. While he is a great RPO and quick game decision maker, Mendoza mentally slows down when handling full-field progressions. Mendoza is a passive decision maker who often passes up explosive play opportunities on the backend of plays to hit his checkdown. His overall ability to see the field fully is questionable, as he often spends too much time on his initial read instead of going to the other side of the field. Considering growth as a player in the past few years and his dominance in RPO decision-making, Mendoza’s processing lapses are an issue that I believe is fixable with snaps, as he just needs more experience handling true dropback, full-field progressions (nearly all rookie QB starters experience these growing pains when going to the NFL).
Video 20: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) takes too long working full-field to hit his TE and has to go to his checkdown
Video 21: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) has his primary read and checkdown taken away then frantically scrambles instead of hitting the backside dig
Video 22: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) takes too long reading the field side of the progression and is unnable to hit the open TE
Video 23: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) is hot on a long-developing play and does not throw his hot route
Video 24: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) is hot and gets stuck on his primary read instead of hitting his hot route
Video 25: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) is hot and does not step up to get the pass off in time
Beyond needing work as a processor, Mendoza has poor pressure management skills. While he has the frame to take hits and is willing to throw with a rusher in his face, Mendoza needs to do a better job of managing the rush from inside the pocket. Primarily, Mendoza needs to learn to take hitches to reset, step into pockets, and identify blitzers post-snap. When pressured, Mendoza has a bad habit of being frantic and trying to scramble when there is ample space to take a hitch to reset or step into the pocket. When attempting to pass under pressure, Mendoza occasionally fades away when anticipating contact, which causes poorly placed passes. The biggest issue with Mendoza is that he needs to develop a better understanding of the types of pass rush he faces post-snap. When he is hot with blitzers incoming, Mendoza has a bad tendency to not notice the additional rushers and not access his hot route. When facing a three-man front, Mendoza needs to be better at understanding his blocking advantage and taking more time within the pocket.
Video 26: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) responds to the pressure by drifting left instead of stepping up in the pocket
Video 27: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) immediately starts scrambling instead of taking a hitch and resetting in the clean pocket
Video 28: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) starts scrambling when his RT is beat instead of stepping up in the pocket
Video 29: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) starts scrambling when his RG is beat instead of stepping up in the pocket
Video 30: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) fades away from the blitz while unpressured and overthrows his WR
Video 31: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) fades away while unpressured and delivers an innaccurate ball to his WR
Video 32: QB Fernando Mendoza (15) rolls out and throws an interception when not facing pressure againist a three man rush
Draft Projection
Fernando Mendoza currently has a day one grade. While I do not think he is as strong as QB1s in recent classes (Williams, Ward, Young, Lawrence, and Burrow were all better prospects in my opinion), Mendoza is a QB I would comfortably select in the first round and be my week one starter. Mendoza needs a lot of mechanical and mental development, but his physical tools give him the potential to be an NFL starter. Given that the pick is held by a team with a desperate need for a QB, I believe Mendoza should be the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Athletic Testing
Will be updated after the NFL Combine/Indiana Pro Day
Pro Comparison
Image 3: QB Sam Darnold (14) during the 2025 season with the Seattle Seahawks
A hyper-talented pocket passer with questionable mechanics, Sam Darnold is a QB that I believe had similar warts and strengths to Mendoza as a prospect. Darnold entered the NFL as an unfinished product who spent many offseasons working on his throwing motion, footwork, and processing. With good placement, off-platform ability, and velocity, Darnold has been a superstar for the past two seasons as he has developed refinement that allows him to fully utilize his physical gifts. Though this comparison relies heavily on him continuing to develop, Mendoza can develop into a similar caliber and style of quarterback.
Date Published: 01/27/2026
Date Last Updated: 01/27/2026
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