Former California quarterback Fernando Mendoza has a new home in Bloomington. The four-star transfer signed with Indiana on Christmas Eve.
Mendoza will replace QB Kurtis Rourke, who led the Hoosiers to their best season in program history by posting an 11-2 straight-up record and a 9-4 against-the-spread mark.
In 11 games as a true sophomore for the Golden Bears, Mendoza completed 68.7 percent of his passes for 3,004 yards with a 16/6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He added 105 rushing yards and two TDs.
As a freshman in 2023, Mendoza played in nine games for Justin Wilcox’s team. He connected on 63.0 percent of his throws for 1,708 yards with a 14/10 TD-INT ratio. Mendoza had a pair of rushing TDs as well.
According to the 247Sports Composite, Mendoza was the third-best QB in the portal behind only Luke Kromenhoek and John Mateer, who transferred from Washington St. to Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Kromenhoek went from Florida St. to Mississippi St.
Mendoza was ranked as the #12 overall player in the portal.
Indiana’s 2025 recruiting class is now composed of 10 transfers. As of Thursday, the 247Sports Composite had the Hoosiers ranked with the #39 overall recruiting class nationally. They have the #25 ranked class in terms of transfer-specific imports.
Mendoza is the second four-star player in the class, joining incoming freshman safety Byron Baldwin. The Baltimore product is ranked as the #6 player out of the state of Maryland, the #17 safety in the country and the nation’s #181 overall prospect.
Other solid transfer acquisitions for Curt Cignetti and his staff include CB Amariyun Knighten (Northern Illinois), DT Dominique Ratcliff (Texas State), DL Hosea Wheeler (Western Kentucky) and RB Roman Hemby (Maryland).
In eight games for the Huskies in 2024, Knighten contributed 13 tackles, three passes broken up and one interception with a 33-yard return. Ratcliff played in 36 games for the Bobcats in three seasons, recording 67 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and five sacks.
Hemby played in 42 games from 2021-24 for the Terrapins, producing 2,347 career rushing yards, 22 TDs and a 4.9 yards-per-carry average. He also has 112 career receptions for 921 receiving yards and five TDs.
In 27 games for the Hilltoppers in 2023 and ’24, Wheeler had 117 tackles, eight TFL’s, four sacks, two forced fumbles, one interception and one fumble recovery.