{"id":699253,"date":"2026-01-23T16:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/699253\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T16:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:09:14","slug":"indiana-nfl-draft-history-fernando-mendoza-declares-likely-to-become-hoosiers-highest-ever-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/699253\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana NFL Draft history: Fernando Mendoza declares, likely to become Hoosiers’ highest-ever selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana NFL Draft history: Fernando Mendoza declares, likely to become Hoosiers’ highest-ever selection<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now that Fernando Mendoza helped Indiana complete a 16-0 season, he is headed to the NFL.<\/p>\n

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The Hoosiers quarterback announced Friday that he intends to enter the 2026 NFL Draft. Mendoza still had another year of college eligibility, but he made the expected decision to go pro after winning both the national championship and the Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n

Mendoza is already perhaps the most important player in Indiana football history, and now he could make more history for the Hoosiers at the next level. Here’s what Mendoza’s decision means.<\/p>\n

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MORE: Indiana ranks fist in the Way-Too-Early 2026 rankings<\/a><\/p>\n

Indiana players in NFL Draft<\/p>\n

Indiana doesn’t have an extensive list of highly-drafted players, as the program wasn’t known for developing talent. Therefore, here’s a look at the highest-drafted Indiana players in NFL Draft history.<\/p>\n

Year<\/p>\n

Pick<\/p>\n

Player<\/p>\n

Position<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

1938<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 1<\/p>\n

Corby Davis<\/p>\n

FB<\/p>\n

Cleveland Rams<\/p>\n

1966<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 4<\/p>\n

Randy Beisler<\/p>\n

G<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n

1944<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 6<\/p>\n

Billy Hillenbrand<\/p>\n

HB<\/p>\n

New York Giants<\/p>\n

1974<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 6<\/p>\n

Carl Barzilauskas<\/p>\n

DT<\/p>\n

New York Jets<\/p>\n

1964<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 8<\/p>\n

Marv Woodson<\/p>\n

DB<\/p>\n

Baltimore Colts<\/p>\n

1985<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 9<\/p>\n

Kevin Allen<\/p>\n

T<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n

1988<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 10<\/p>\n

Eric Moore<\/p>\n

G<\/p>\n

New York Giants<\/p>\n

1965<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 11<\/p>\n

Tom Nowatzke<\/p>\n

FB<\/p>\n

Detroit Lions<\/p>\n

1992<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 21<\/p>\n

Vaughn Dunbar<\/p>\n

RB<\/p>\n

New Orleans Saints<\/p>\n

1994<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 24<\/p>\n

Thomas Lewis<\/p>\n

WR<\/p>\n

New York Giants<\/p>\n

1968<\/p>\n

Round 1, Pick 27<\/p>\n

Doug Crusan<\/p>\n

T<\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Transfer portal winners and losers\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza draft projection<\/p>\n

Mendoza is widely expected to go first overall in the 2025 NFL Draft to the LAs Vegas Raiders. While Mendoza may not be considered the best overall prospect in the draft, he is the best quarterback, and therefore will rise to the top of the entire event.<\/p>\n

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MORE:\u00a0How Curt Cignetti went from D2 coach to the top of the college football world<\/a><\/p>\n

Last Indiana player drafted in first round<\/p>\n

Indiana hasn’t had a player taken in the first round since 1994, when the New York Giants selected wide receiver Thomas Lewis with the 24th overall pick. Lewis played three seasons at Indiana, totaling 2,147 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns in 33 games.<\/p>\n

In the NFL, Lewis lasted just four seasons, all with the Giants, finishing with 74 catches for 1,032 yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n

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MORE: Google pays tribute to Curt Cignetti<\/a><\/p>\n

How old is Fernando Mendoza?<\/p>\n

Mendoza is 22 years-old, as he spent the past four years in college at both Cal and Indiana. Mendoza first redshirted for the Golden Bears, but later played in 20 games for the Golden Bears before transferring to Bloomington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana NFL Draft history: Fernando Mendoza declares, likely to become Hoosiers’ highest-ever selection originally appeared on The Sporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4955,113,3619,7,932,26781,393,251,55,56,255,6,15,109,101951],"class_list":{"0":"post-699253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-fernando-mendoza","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-indiana","13":"tag-indiana-football","14":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","15":"tag-miami-dolphins","16":"tag-new-orleans-saints","17":"tag-new-york-giants","18":"tag-new-york-jets","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-nfl-draft","21":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","22":"tag-thomas-lewis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}