Fernando Mendoza is likely not going to the White House with the rest of the 2025 national championship-winning Indiana Hoosiers team. The quarterback, who was just recently selected first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders, is currently deep into the process of getting used to his new locker room.
As part of one of his first press conferences with the Raiders this Saturday, Mendoza was asked if he thought he would be able to make it to the White House later this month for the traditional visit by the national champions. The answer shows you everything you need to know about Mendoza:
“I believe May 11th is the first day of OTAs… If it’s on the first day of OTAs… I gotta prove myself, I can’t miss practice… As a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look. I can’t miss practice. I want to best serve my teammates, and I don’t know if I would be accomplishing that goal,”
It goes to show how Fernando Mendoza views himself in this new role. He’s willing to give up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fully commit to the most mundane aspect of his new job with the Raiders.
Likely nobody would blame him if he asked for some time off to enjoy his fully deserved accomplishment, but he doesn’t care because that’s not the kind of leader he wants to be. This is the personality that helped him win over the nation as he led Indiana to its first-ever national title last fall and winter.
Fernando Mendoza isn’t always Mr. Nice Guy
Fernando Mendoza himself admits that he comes off as a nice guy. His commitment to himself, his family, and his team sort of reinforces that picture. However, according to him, he can be mean too. Just ask his teammates at Bloomington, he says:
“Although I’ve come off as very humble, and pretty fuzzy and warm, at the end of my Indiana career, when you have that equity, you’re able to be like No. 4 [Brett Favre] and No. 12 [Aaron Rodgers]. If you ask my teammates … I wasn’t always a nice guy, I was an a-hole sometimes because I wanted everyone to do their one-eleventh, everyone to do their job, hold everyone to a high standard,” Mendoza said in an interview with the Raiders’ team website.
But is he really? Mendoza can say what he likes, but it seems very difficult that he will shed this carefully curated, and arguably very authentic at the same time, personal image.
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