{"id":122485,"date":"2026-01-18T03:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/122485\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T03:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:04:13","slug":"how-miami-pushed-hard-to-flip-fernando-mendoza-from-indiana-in-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/122485\/","title":{"rendered":"How Miami ‘pushed hard’ to flip Fernando Mendoza from Indiana in transfer portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2014 Twelve months ago, Fernando Mendoza<\/a> was facing a critical transfer decision. The impact of that choice will be evident on the field Monday night in the national championship game.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve 2024, Mendoza verbally committed to Indiana<\/a>. The star Cal<\/a> transfer quarterback was set to join Curt Cignetti\u2019s<\/a> program, picking the Hoosiers after significant interest from Georgia. The opportunity to play alongside his brother, Alberto<\/a>, and the opportunity to elevate Indiana, coming off a College Football Playoff appearance, were enticing.<\/p>\n

But for nearly a week, Mendoza\u2019s Indiana paperwork was not processed. During that span, Miami<\/a> and head coach Mario Cristobal<\/a> made a major push to flip the quarterback from the Hoosiers, sources tell On3. Miami also pursued Darian Mensah<\/a> and John Mateer<\/a> in the portal, but for a stretch, the Hurricanes went all-in on Mendoza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came in late, they pushed hard for sure, and ultimately Indiana won because they were consistent throughout the process,\u201d said Alberto Mendoza, confirming that Miami went all-out to flip his older brother. \u201cWe thought the best thing for him was Indiana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten days after Mendoza\u2019s paperwork with Indiana was finalized, on Jan. 10, 2025, Carson Beck<\/a> announced he was forgoing the NFL draft and entering the transfer portal. The former Georgia<\/a> quarterback quickly became Miami\u2019s top transfer target.<\/p>\n

Until Beck entered the portal, Cristobal and the Hurricanes continued their efforts to flip Mendoza. That included repeated phone calls from Cristobal. The quarterback grew up a Miami fan and attended Christopher Columbus High School<\/a>, located roughly five miles from the University of Miami campus.<\/p>\n

Mendoza stuck with the Hoosiers because they were on him since the minute he entered the portal. Sources told On3 that financials were not a deciding factor; he\u2019s making over $2 million this season at Indiana. <\/p>\n

Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan<\/a> acknowledged to On3 on Saturday that the Hoosiers were aware of Miami\u2019s overtures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew about it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were a lot of suitors out there. We were very fortunate he ended up with us. Recruiting is never over until he signs that document. So we were just fortunate he chose Indiana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberto Mendoza recalls sitting down with his brother during the process and outlining the pros and cons of every program pursuing the Cal transfer quarterback. Having his brother in Bloomington was what he wanted, but he knew Fernando had to evaluate every option. <\/p>\n

\u201cI let him make his own decision,\u201d Alberto Mendoza said. \u201cI advised him of all the positives and negatives from each school that I saw, obviously a little bit more in-depth from Indiana. I don\u2019t know [what would have happened if he went to Miami], but the Lord had a plan, and it worked out. I\u2019m just happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza\u2019s decision to stick with Indiana has paid off. He won the Heisman Trophy last month, as the Hoosiers have marched their way through the College Football Playoff with dominant wins over Alabama and Oregon. He\u2019s been historically efficient, throwing more touchdowns than incompletions in the CFP. <\/p>\n

Shanahan said Mendoza\u2019s film at Cal stood out immediately, but his biggest question was how he would handle adversity. Trailing on the road at Penn State, Mendoza led the Hoosiers on a game-winning drive, capped off by a touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr.<\/a> in the back of the end zone.<\/p>\n

The quarterback also popped back up in the Big Ten title game after taking a major hit on the first play of the game against Ohio State. The Hoosiers went on to win 13-10 for their first Big Ten championship since 1967. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody was holding their breath on that one, but just his willingness to lay on the line every single time for his teammates, I\u2019ve been impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday night, Fernando Mendoza and Carson Beck will play for a national title. The Cal transfer quarterback has elevated Indiana in his lone season in Bloomington. Beck has found redemption with the Hurricanes, a year removed from a disappointing finish to his Georgia career. <\/p>\n

None of it would have happened had Mendoza not stuck with Indiana over Miami. In college football, snap decisions matter \u2014 even in the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey pushed late, very late,\u201d Alberto Mendoza said of Miami\u2019s efforts to land his brother. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Twelve months ago, Fernando Mendoza was facing a critical transfer decision. The impact of that choice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61092,53637,60301,39356,123,125,124,61093],"class_list":{"0":"post-122485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-alberto-mendoza-24-christopher-columbus-hs","9":"tag-curt-cignetti","10":"tag-fernando-mendoza-22-columbus","11":"tag-mario-cristobal-88-columbus","12":"tag-miami","13":"tag-miami-headlines","14":"tag-miami-news","15":"tag-mike-shanahan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}