Key Highlights
- “I’m really just focused on the present.”That focus has been the through line of Mendoza’s media day availability, even as question after question tried to pull him toward the emotions of home, the noise of the NFL, and the gravity of a season that already includes a Heisman Trophy and an undefeated run. For Mendoza, home starts at Christopher Columbus High School.
- He called the school’s “brotherhood” the foundation of who he became, not just a quarterback, but a teammate and a leader.
- And he connected it to the identity he sees in Indiana’s locker room.“The brotherhood made me who I am,” Mendoza said.
- “I think that’s the super power of this Indiana team, the glue that we have together and the bond that we have together.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMore: Big Ten heavyweight could dominate the top 15 of the 2026 NFL DraftHe spoke about coaches and teachers who shaped him, and he smiled about the idea of playing in front of “all my Columbus brothers” in the same city where he grew up.
- Asked in Spanish what it means to play here, Mendoza traced the story through family, culture and faith — a Cuban American kid in Miami whose grandparents immigrated from Cuba and built a life.“It’s kind of like a full circle moment,” he said. The moment, though, comes with a challenge of not letting it become too big. Mendoza described stepping off the plane into humidity and Hispanic music, a sensory jolt that felt like home after Bloomington’s winter.