
Quarterback, Indiana (from California), 2022–25
Fernando Mendoza
- Number
- No. 15
- Height
- 6′5″
- Weight
- 225 lb
- Class (2025)
- Junior
- Hometown
- Miami, FL
- Born
- Oct 1, 2003, in Boston, Massachusetts
Wikipedia readers: about 167,657 a month over the past year
Fernando Mendoza played quarterback at California (2022–24) and Indiana (2025). He was the quarterback of the 2025 national champions (16–0). He won the 2025 Heisman Trophy, the 2025 Davey O’Brien Award, the 2025 Manning Award, the 2025 Maxwell Award and the 2025 Walter Camp Award. The Las Vegas Raiders took Mendoza first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft.
At a glance
Career highs
385passing yards, career highat Wake Forest, 20245touchdown passes, career highthree times; last vs. Oregon, 20252rushing touchdowns, career highvs. USC, 2023Honors
- 2025Heisman Trophy
- 2025Quarterback of the national champions (16–0)
- 2025Davey O’Brien Award
- 2025Manning Award
- 2025Maxwell Award
- 2025Walter Camp Award
- 2025AP College Football Player of the Year
- 2025Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year
- 2025Big Ten Quarterback of the Year
- 2025Chicago Tribune Silver Football
- 2025First-team All-Big Ten
- 2025National leader in passer rating (182.9)
- 2025National leader in passing touchdowns (41)
Team titles: National champions, 2025 (Indiana); Big Ten champions, 2025
All-America: AP first team 2025; AFCA 2025; FWAA 2025; Walter Camp 2025; ESPN 2025; Pro Football Focus 2025; Sports Illustrated 2025; The Athletic 2025; and one more selector’s team
Players of the year, conference and regional honors: Wikipedia’s lists (CC BY-SA), each linked from its honor.
Passing
| Season | Team | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | California | 153 | 243 | 63.0 | 1,708 | 7.0 | 14 | 10 |
| 2024 | California | 265 | 386 | 68.7 | 3,004 | 7.8 | 16 | 6 |
| 2025 | Indiana | 273 | 379 | 72.0 | 3,535 | 9.3 | 41 | 6 |
| Career | 691 | 1,008 | 68.6 | 8,247 | 8.2 | 71 | 22 | |
Rushing
| Season | Team | Car | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | California | 49 | 86 | 1.8 | 2 | 16 |
| 2024 | California | 87 | 105 | 1.2 | 2 | 50 |
| 2025 | Indiana | 90 | 276 | 3.1 | 7 | 21 |
| Career | 226 | 467 | 2.1 | 11 | 50 | |
Season lines from CollegeFootballData, regular season and bowls.
On the roster
| Season | Team | No. | Pos | Class | Ht | Wt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | California | 15 | QB | RS | ||
| 2023 | California | 15 | QB | Fr. | ||
| 2024 | California | 15 | QB | So. | ||
| 2025 | Indiana | 15 | QB | Jr. | 6′5″ | 225 |
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Per play
| Season | Team | Plays | EPA/play | Pctile | Median | Total | Usage | Adj. pass | Adj. rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | California | 280 | 0.32 | 51st (n=255) | 0.32 | 88.9 | 45% | 0.43 | -0.07 |
| 2024 | California | 447 | 0.35 | 68th (n=238) | 0.30 | 155.7 | 63% | 0.30 | 0.25 |
| 2025 | Indiana | 469 | 0.56 | 99th (n=314) | 0.24 | 261.8 | 43% | 0.61 | 0.56 |
Expected points added: how much the player’s plays moved the team’s expected score, per play and in total. Plays: total EPA divided by EPA per play, the plays the source credits to him (for a receiver roughly his catches and runs, not every target; for a passer, not every attempt), so it can differ from attempts plus carries. Percentile: against the position’s regulars that season across all divisions on file (quarterbacks with 150+ plays, backs 60+, receivers and tight ends 30+), with how many there were (n) and their median; a dash means too few plays to rank. A season in progress uses the full-season bar scaled by games played, never below 75 plays for quarterbacks, 30 for backs and 20 for receivers. The cohort grows or shrinks with the source’s coverage each season (2025 lists far more players), so compare percentiles rather than raw EPA across years. FCS seasons are marked. Usage: the share of the team’s plays the player was part of (shown from 20 plays). Adjusted pass and rush: EPA per play adjusted for the defenses faced (CollegeFootballData’s WEPA). From CollegeFootballData, 2013 on.
Passing detail
| Season | Team | Success | Depth | After catch | Deep throws | Deep completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Indiana | 59% | 9.5 yds | 4.9 yds | 30 of 190 | 50% |
Success: passes that kept the offense on schedule. Depth: how far downfield his passes traveled in the air, on average. After catch: yards his receivers gained after the catch, per completion. Deep throws: the play-by-play gives depth and direction for about half of a passer’s throws; this is how many of those went deep, and how many of the deep ones were caught. From CollegeFootballData, FBS games, 2025 on.
Rushing detail
| Season | Team | Success | Line yards | Second level | Open field | Stuffed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Indiana | 65% | 4.20 | 1.80 | 1.20 | 8% |
Where his yards came from, per carry: line yards are the ones credited to the blockers (the first few, and losses), second level the yards 5 to 10 past the line, open field those beyond 10. Success: carries that kept the offense on schedule. Stuffed: carries stopped at or behind the line. From CollegeFootballData, FBS games, 2025 on.
Game by game
2025 Indiana 16 games, 3,535 passing yards, 41 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 30 | vs. | W 27–14 | 18 | 31 | 193 | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| Sep 6 | vs. | W 56–9 | 18 | 25 | 245 | 4 | 0 | 20 |
| Sep 12 | vs. | W 73–0 | 19 | 20 | 270 | 5 | 0 | 19 |
| Sep 20 | vs. | W 63–10 | 21 | 23 | 267 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Sep 27 | at | W 20–15 | 13 | 23 | 233 | 2 | 1 | 26 |
| Oct 11 | at | W 30–20 | 20 | 31 | 215 | 1 | 1 | 31 |
| Oct 18 | vs. | W 38–13 | 24 | 28 | 332 | 4 | 0 | 18 |
| Oct 25 | vs. | W 56–6 | 15 | 22 | 168 | 3 | 1 | 45 |
| Nov 1 | at | W 55–10 | 14 | 21 | 201 | 1 | 1 | 24 |
| Nov 8 | at | W 27–24 | 19 | 30 | 218 | 1 | 1 | 20 |
| Nov 15 | vs. | W 31–7 | 22 | 24 | 299 | 4 | 0 | −24 |
| Nov 28 | at | W 56–3 | 8 | 15 | 117 | 2 | 0 | 27 |
| Dec 6 | vs. | W 13–10 | 15 | 23 | 222 | 1 | 1 | −3 |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs. | W 38–3 | 14 | 16 | 192 | 3 | 0 | 16 |
| Jan 9 ✦ | vs. | W 56–22 | 17 | 20 | 177 | 5 | 0 | 28 |
| Jan 19 ✦ | vs. | W 27–21 | 16 | 27 | 186 | 0 | 0 | −8 |
2024 California 11 games, 3,004 passing yards, 16 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31 | vs. | W 31–13 | 15 | 22 | 158 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 7 | at | W 21–14 | 25 | 36 | 233 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Sep 14 | vs. | W 31–10 | 21 | 29 | 198 | 2 | 1 | −2 |
| Sep 21 | at | L 9–14 | 22 | 36 | 303 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Oct 5 | vs. | L 38–39 | 11 | 22 | 285 | 2 | 1 | 20 |
| Oct 12 | at | L 15–17 | 27 | 37 | 272 | 1 | 0 | −34 |
| Oct 19 | vs. | L 23–24 | 30 | 42 | 282 | 0 | 0 | −7 |
| Oct 26 | vs. | W 44–7 | 27 | 36 | 364 | 2 | 0 | 25 |
| Nov 8 | at | W 46–36 | 40 | 56 | 385 | 2 | 1 | 51 |
| Nov 16 | vs. | L 25–33 | 22 | 34 | 225 | 1 | 2 | −1 |
| Nov 23 | vs. | W 24–21 | 25 | 36 | 299 | 3 | 0 | 35 |
2023 California 9 games, 1,708 passing yards, 14 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 | at | W 58–21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 |
| Oct 7 | vs. | L 40–52 | 21 | 32 | 207 | 2 | 1 | 41 |
| Oct 14 | at | L 14–34 | 10 | 17 | 149 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Oct 28 | vs. | L 49–50 | 25 | 39 | 292 | 2 | 1 | 48 |
| Nov 4 | at | L 19–63 | 18 | 34 | 177 | 0 | 1 | −12 |
| Nov 11 | vs. | W 42–39 | 14 | 21 | 150 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Nov 18 | at | W 27–15 | 24 | 36 | 294 | 3 | 1 | −8 |
| Nov 25 | at | W 33–7 | 19 | 30 | 178 | 2 | 2 | −3 |
| Dec 16 ✦ | vs. | L 14–34 | 22 | 33 | 261 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
| Drill | Combine 2026 |
|---|---|
| Height | 6′4¾″ |
| Weight | 236 lb |
| Arm length | 31⅞″ |
| Hand size | 9½″ |
| Wingspan | 76¾″ |
Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data).
In the NFL
1 season, 1 game with a stat; latest team: Las Vegas Raiders.
| Season | Team | G | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | Las Vegas Raiders | 1 | 6 | 8 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat.
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