FORT WORTH, TX — The awards keep coming for Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Monday night, the Heisman Trophy winner and national champion was named this year’s Davey O’Brien Award winner, which is given to the top quarterback in college football each year. Mendoza’s victory comes just months after leading the Hoosiers to a historic, undefeated 16-0 season capped by a 27-21 victory over Miami for the program’s first-ever national title.
Mendoza becomes the first Hoosier to win the esteemed Davey O’Brien Award. He also joins an elite “brotherhood,” becoming just the fifth player in college football history to win the Heisman Trophy, Davey O’Brien, and Maxwell awards, while also taking home a national championship in the same season. The only other four players to achieve this quartet of honors are Joe Burrow (LSU), Cam Newton (Auburn), Danny Wuerffel (Florida), and Charlie Ward (Florida State).
The consensus All-American set multiple single-season program records during Indiana’s perfect run. He led the nation with 41 passing touchdowns and 48 total touchdowns—the most of any player in the country this season.
Now, Mendoza shifts his focus to his future professional career. He discussed that transition at the O’Brien Award ceremony at The Fort Worth Club.
“College is great, but that part’s behind me,” he told the Associated Press. “I feel like I’ve been satisfied with my college career. However, now I’m on to the NFL career. It requires a new skill set. It’s a grown man’s league”.
Mendoza is widely projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, a selection currently held by the Las Vegas Raiders.
“I’d be blessed and honored to play for the Raiders, or I’d be blessed to play for any team. Any NFL team that drafts me, I’d be ecstatic,” he said. “I know at the draft, I’ll probably shed a tear or two just because it’s such a full-circle moment for me. … The goal of transferring to Indiana was to make the NFL. It wasn’t to be a great college player. It was to try to develop into being an NFL quarterback one day”.
The NFL Draft is set to begin on Thursday, April 23, in Pittsburgh.
