Indiana losing Fernando Mendoza makes Curt Cignetti, 3,000-yard QB, ready for unthinkable originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Indiana Hoosiers are losing arguably their most important asset in quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and national champion.
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They still have coach Curt Cignetti, a fearless leader who continuously strives for perfection and not skipping a beat. They are trying to do the same this off-season, as they snagged elite 3,000-plus yard passer Josh Hoover from the TCU Horned Frogs.
One college football analyst, CBS Sports’ Cody Nagel, is taking it a step further: Hoover isn’t just the man in Bloomington. He’s going to be the guy the college football community points to as a possible blueprint for future NFL stardom.
“Just a few years ago, the thought of Indiana producing a No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft would have seemed impossible,” Nagel wrote. “Doing it twice in a row would have been absurd. With Fernando Mendoza widely viewed as the favorite to go first in 2026, quarterback transfer Josh Hoover steps into an offense that has already proven it can elevate quarterbacks to the very top of the draft board. Oklahoma is the most recent program to pull off the feat with Baker Mayfield (2018) and Kyler Murray (2019), while USC last did it in the late 1960s.”
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ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit validated Nagel’s points further in an episode of “Crain and Cone,” putting Hoover in the same category as some of the sport’s best quarterbacks who are returning next season.
More specifically, Herbstreit noted Hoover as a possible “sleeper” option this fall in a potentially surprising, productive season.
“I mentioned already that Josh Hoover could be that guy,” Herbstreit said. “I really think that [Texas A&M‘s] Marcel Reed, not because he’s an MBA guy, but he’s at a school where they’re just scratching the surface of what Mike Elko is going to allow them to become. He happens to have the keys to the car right now.”
Regardless of whether Hoover levels up this fall to become a No. 1 pick type-option, it seems clear he is destined to keep the Hoosiers’ engine rolling.
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MORE: CBS Sports sends scary warning to Ohio State, Ryan Day as pressure mounts ahead of 2026
We’ll see if the move to Bloomington truly, and results-based wise, pays off.
