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 this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, selected amid an undefeated and historic season during which he has been the engine of an offense that has scored more than 40 points per game.
Heisman today, Jets 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.”
Heisman Trophy finalist Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza poses with the trophy after an NCAA college football news conference before the award ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in New York. AP
Mendoza — who has guided the Hoosiers to a 13-0 record, their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the CFP — received 2,362 points and 643 of 916 first-place votes to become the first Heisman winner in school history and first of Cuban descent.
Diego Pavia, who was essentially Vanderbilt’s whole team while Mendoza was the best player on the best team, finished second with 1,435 points and 189 first-place votes from an electorate that consists largely of media members and also includes former Heisman winners and one fan vote.
Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love (719 points) and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin (432 points) rounded out the voting.
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, 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 — those 39 total touchdowns are a program record — 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 not often 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 before committing to Yale, ignored by the top programs.
Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers celebrates a touchdown against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the third quarter in the 2025 Big Ten Football Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 06, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Getty Images
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 truly emerged 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 as the country’s most outstanding player.
And one of the most polished collegiate athletes out there, too.
“I want every kid out there who feels overlooked, underestimated to know: I was you,” Mendoza said in accepting the award in a speech that included deep breaths, tears and a Spanish thank you to his grandparents. “The truth is, you don’t need the most stars, hype or rankings. You just need discipline, heart and people who believe in you.”
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.
On a day he called the best of his life, Mendoza was not thinking about the April draft.
“I can’t feel my body right now,” Mendoza said shortly after being mobbed by Indiana teammates.