{"id":622057,"date":"2026-05-04T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/622057\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T01:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:41:13","slug":"fernando-mendoza-reveals-priorities-as-indiana-white-house-visit-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/622057\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza reveals priorities as Indiana White House visit looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Indiana Hoosiers\u2019 White House visit is quickly approaching, but Fernando Mendoza is focused on his new job.<\/p>\n<p>The former Indiana quarterback, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/23\/sports\/how-raiders-are-preparing-for-fernando-mendoza-2026-nfl-no-1-draft-pick\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">who was drafted No. 1 overall<\/a> less than two weeks by the Raiders, was asked about attending the school\u2019s scheduled White House visit on May 11.<\/p>\n<p>Mendoza replied that he was prepared to miss the White House visit, believing that it fell on the first day of OTAs and that he was at the \u201cbottom of the totem pole\u201d as a rookie. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t miss practice. \u2026  As a rookie, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good look,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to try to best serve my teammates and I don\u2019t know if that\u2019d be accomplishing that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39200450\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP_Raiders_Draft_Football_8_8_3-bcffa-0.jpg\" alt=\"Fernando Mendoza, a football player, wearing a suit and Raiders cap, smiles into a microphone.\" class=\"wp-image-39200450\"  \/>Fernando Mendoza said he was at the \u201cbottom of the total pole\u201d as a rookie. AP<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39255114\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-washington-dc-majesties-formally-126616900.jpg\" alt=\"President Donald Trump smiling while giving a speech at a podium on the South Lawn.\" class=\"wp-image-39255114\"  \/>President Donald Trump routinely hosts championship teams across sports, though some teams and individual players have declined invitations.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>However, Mendoza admitted that he had to check the Raiders\u2019 calendar, and it actually appears he will be free to attend the White House visit after all.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because the first day of OTAs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raiders.com\/news\/2026-offseason-program-dates-set-for-raiders-otas-minicamp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">is on May 18,<\/a> not May 11 as Mendoza believed.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the quarterback has been with the Raiders this weekend for rookie minicamp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYesterday I was like, \u2018Wow, I have a lot to work on,&#8217;\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone here in rookie camp, these are all really, really good players, so I need to elevate my level of play when we go to OTAs [on May 18] and training camp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mendoza helped Indiana produce a historic season in 2025, as the Hoosiers went 16-0 and won the school\u2019s first national championship.<\/p>\n<p>The quarterback, 22, also won the Heisman Trophy and finished the season with 41 passing touchdowns and 3,535 passing yards.<\/p>\n<p>After wrapping up the Raiders\u2019 three-day minicamp on Sunday, he will have a little over two weeks before OTAs begin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indiana Hoosiers\u2019 White House visit is quickly approaching, but Fernando Mendoza is focused on his new job.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[68073,6815,1812,349,99],"class_list":["post-622057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-indiana-hoosiers","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}