Indiana losing Fernando Mendoza makes 3,000-yard QB Curt Cignetti ready for the unthinkable originally appeared on Sports news. Add The Sporting News as Favorite source by clicking here.
THE Indiana Hoosiers lose arguably their most important asset in quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a Heisman Trophy-winning and national champion quarterback.
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They having coach Curt Cignettia fearless leader who continually strives for perfection and doesn’t skip a beat. They’re trying to do the same thing this offseason, landing the elite Josh Hoover, 3,000+ yard passer TCU horned frogs.
A college football analyst, Cody Nagel of CBS Sports, goes even further: Hoover is not just the man from Bloomington. He’ll be the guy the college football community points to as a possible role model for future NFL stardom.
“Just a few years ago, the idea 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 considered the favorite to go first in 2026, transfer quarterback Josh Hoover enters an offense that has already proven it can elevate quarterbacks to the top of the draft board. Oklahoma is the most recent program to accomplish the feat with Baker Mayfield (2018) and Kyler Murray (2019), while USC last did it late in the 1960s.”
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ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit further validated Nagel’s arguments in an episode of “Fear and cone”, placing Hoover in the same category as some of the sport’s best quarterbacks returning next season.
Specifically, Herbstreit noted Hoover as a possible “sleeper” option this fall in a potentially surprising and productive season.
“I mentioned before that Josh Hoover could be that guy,” Herbstreit said. “I really think Marcel Reed (of Texas A&M), not because he has an MBA, 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 moves to the next level this fall to become the No. 1 overall option, it seems clear that he is destined to rev the Hoosiers’ engine.
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We’ll see if the move to Bloomington really pays off, and if it’s results-oriented.
