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Indiana QB Alberto Mendoza, Fernando's younger brother, reportedly enters transfer portal

Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORK January 20, 2026 at 11:50 AM

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Indiana football will be losing more than one member of the Mendoza family after its improbable run to a national championship.

Hoosiers backup quarterback Alberto Mendoza will enter the transfer portal, according to multiple reports Tuesday, Jan. 20, one day after Indiana beat Miami 27-21 in the title game of the College Football Playoff to secure the first national championship in program history.

Mendoza is the younger brother of Hoosiers starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner and the presumed No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

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As a redshirt freshman this season, Alberto Mendoza appeared in nine games, often relieving his older brother late in lopsided wins. Across those games, he completed 18 of 24 passes for 286 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. He was a threat on the ground, too, rushing for 190 yards and a touchdown on 13 attempts.

Mendoza’s decision comes about two weeks after Indiana landed a commitment from TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover, one of the most sought-after players in the portal. Hoover set a school record with 3,949 passing yards in 2024 and followed that up with 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns this past season.

Should he win the job, as is widely expected, Hoover would become the third transfer quarterback to start for Indiana since coach Curt Cignetti was hired after the 2023 season, joining Kurtis Rourke and Fernando Mendoza.

Alberto Mendoza was a three-star recruit in the 2024 class coming out of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami. He was rated by 247Sports’ composite rankings as the No. 84 quarterback in the class. After enrolling at Indiana in June 2024, he was joined by his older brother, who transferred in from Cal after the 2024 season and went on to become the Hoosiers’ first Heisman winner in program history.

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