Cignetti, who led the Hoosiers to an 11-2 record in 2024, recently appeared on the ESPN College Football podcast. IU’s coach spoke about Mendoza, who started the last two seasons for Cal.

“Fernando was highly sought after,” Cignetti said. “Two years of eligibility. Started for a year and a half. He’s got a lot of talent, a lot of skill. He was under duress, quite frankly, a lot last year at Cal. The protection wasn’t very good. They had 41 sacks and did not have a lot of time to throw. You get to see him extend plays quite a bit on tape. There’s talent there. We’re excited about him. We’ll fit him into our system and tweak our system according to the quarterback and who else we have offensively.”

Cignetti said Mendoza’s strengths are that “he can throw the ball. He can spin the ball.”