The Jets have about four months to decide if Fernando Mendoza is the Chosen One who can lead them out of their ever-growing and all-encompassing wilderness.
On Saturday, the college football world endorsed him.
The Indiana quarterback is the Heisman Trophy winner, selected amid an undefeated and historic season during which he has been the engine of an offense that has averaged more than 40 points per game.
Heisman today, Jet tomorrow?
“I’ve only heard fantastic things about Coach [Aaron] Glenn. I think he’s done a fantastic job,” Mendoza said from the Marriott Marquis in Midtown before the ceremony. “Honestly, right now, although I’m focused on the College Football Playoff, I strongly believe that it would be a blessing to be drafted by any team.”
Mendoza, who has guided the Hoosiers to a 13-0 record, their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the CFP, received 643 first-place votes to become the first Heisman winner in school history.
Diego Pavia — who essentially was Vanderbilt’s whole team, while Mendoza was the best player on the best team — finished second in the voting, which consists largely of media members and also includes former Heisman winners and fans.
Mendoza became the fourth quarterback in the past five years to win the award given to the nation’s most outstanding player, only two-way star Travis Hunter interrupting the QB reign last season. Three of this year’s four finalists were signal-callers, the lone intruder — Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love — falling short of becoming the first running back to capture the award since Derrick Henry in 2015.
A Miami native and transfer from Cal, Mendoza threw for 2,980 yards, led college football with 33 touchdown passes and ran for another six while throwing just six interceptions this season.
In his first and likely only year in the Hoosiers offense, he put together three straight games of at least four passing TDs and zero interceptions; was rarely tested in the game’s final moments, but orchestrated a late, game-winning drive against Penn State; and was at his best and toughest against the best and toughest, bouncing back from a brutal hit against Ohio State and completing a perfectly thrown, back-shoulder, 17-yard touchdown pass for the score that became the difference in the Big Ten title game.
Given his season, Mendoza being crowned was expected. Given his background, the award is the culmination of a surprising rise.
Mendoza is the grandson of Cuban immigrants and starred in high school in South Florida — “The speed of the game is best in Miami,” he said, crediting his upbringing for his preparedness — before committing to Yale, ignored by the top programs.
After nearly six months in which Mendoza believed he was Ivy League-bound, California became the first and only Power Four school to offer the 6-foot-5 QB, who redshirted his freshman year and began his second season as the third-string quarterback. He took over midseason, ran with the job and starred last year, when he completed more than 68 percent of his passes for more than 3,000 yards with 16 touchdowns, giving him a platform to find a bigger program with a more pro-ready offense (transferring only after graduating in three years from the business school in Berkeley).
Indiana won out in part because of the presence of Alberto Mendoza, his younger brother who has served as the backup this season and has watched his brother ascend into the best player on what has been the best team in the country.
And one of the most polished collegiate athletes out there.
“At this point for now, I’m really focused on the College Football Playoff. I really want to focus and be where my feet are,” Mendoza said when asked to pitch himself to NFL teams, before allowing, “I just want to be the ultimate team player and serve my teammates.”
Mendoza, with a big arm and stature, is mocked toward the top of NFL drafts, where the perpetually quarterback-less and 3-10 Jets — who sit with the seventh pick at the moment — are among those that await.
