Fernando Mendoza V (born October 1, 2003) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

. He previously played for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

Early life

Mendoza was born in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, and is the grandson of Cuban immigrants. He attended Christopher Columbus High School in Miami. As a quarterback on the football team, Mendoza completed 133 of his 203 pass attempts for 1,396 yards and 16 touchdowns with four interceptions, while also adding 137 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He originally committed to play

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

before deciding to flip to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

College career

California (2022–2024)

2022 season

Mendoza was redshirted during the 2022 season.

2023 season

Mendoza earned his first career start in week 6 of the 2023 season against

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

. He completed 21 of 32 pass attempts for 207 yards and two touchdowns with an interception in a loss to the Beavers. The following week, Mendoza went 10 of 17 passing for 149 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a loss to

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. Mendoza was named the team's starting quarterback heading forward. In eight starts as a

redshirt freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

, Mendoza completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,708 yards and 14 touchdowns, leading the Golden Bears to a 6-7 record and an

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bow ...

appearance.

2024 season

Entering the 2024 season, Mendoza won the starting quarterback job for Cal, beating out graduate transfer Chandler Rogers. In Week 2 against Auburn, Mendoza completed 25 of 36 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Bears to an upset win over the Tigers. Mendoza was named ACC quarterback of the week in back to back games against

and Wake Forest, setting career-highs in passing yards and completions. His 56 passing attempts against Wake Forest were the most by a Cal quarterback since 2016. On December 11, 2024, Mendoza announced that he would be entering the transfer portal.

Indiana (2025–present)

2025 season

On December 23, 2024, Mendoza announced that he would be transferring to the

Statistics

References

External links

Indiana Hoosiers profile

California Golden Bears profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza, Fernando 2003 births Living people American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football players Christopher Columbus High School (Miami-Dade County, Florida) alumni Players of American football from Miami American sportspeople of Cuban descent Hispanic and Latino American players of American football