The first time Fernando Mendoza put his hands on a Heisman Trophy, he did it as a whim on a recruiting trip to Yale.
Saturday night in New York, he’ll be on stage for the real deal.
Mendoza, who was announced Thursday as AP’s player of the year for the 2025 season, entered Friday as the favorite to win college football’s most prestigious individual award. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound quarterback, who is a redshirt junior, would be the first Heisman winner from Indiana University and the third honoree with Hispanic roots, joining quarterbacks Jim Plunkett of Stanford in 1970 and Bryce Young of Alabama in 2021, who both have Mexican heritage.
Those potential titles are not lost on Mendoza, a once lightly recruited Miami native of Cuban descent who started contemplating this storybook ending a few months ago.
“At the beginning of the year, I saw the list of the top 10 Heisman contenders, and evidently (my name) wasn’t there,” he said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I want to make a goal for myself.’ I prayed about, like, ‘If I could make it to the ceremony, how cool that would be?’ Now that it’s come to fruition, I’m able to share that moment with people who appreciate it. It’s such a cool moment.”