Who Is Alberto Mendoza? Everything to Know About Fernando's Brother, Indiana Sophomore QB

After Fernando Mendoza engineered the best season for Indiana Hoosiers football, his next step as the potential No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft means his younger brother could end up taking over as the starter in 2026.

Alberto Mendoza has been with the Hoosiers longer than Fernando. He was a 3-star recruit in the 2024 freshman class out of Columbus High School in Miami.

The younger Mendoza was one of head coach Curt Cignetti's first additions when he committed to Indiana in December 2023. He originally planned to play at James Madison before Cignetti left the program to become the Hoosiers head coach.

Since Alberto and Fernando are both from Miami, it does raise questions about how they ended up at Indiana instead of with the hometown Hurricanes.

Per The Athletic's Grace Raynor, Fernando chose to play for Indiana after entering the transfer portal last season because he wanted to be with his brother.

Dave Dunn, Alberto's high school coach, told Raynor that he wanted to go to Miami coming out of Columbus but the school never made a significant effort to recruit him.

"He wanted to go to Miami in the worst way," Dunn said. "He went there for all their camps and stuff like that, and they kind of said, 'Well, we'll let you know if we feel that you could walk on here.' And we never heard back."

After flipping his commitment, Mendoza walked Michael Niziolek of The Herald-Times about what Tino Sunseri, an assistant with Cignetti at James Madison and during the 2024 season with Indiana, told him that he does well on the field.

"He loves how I process information at the line of scrimmage, how I identify things the defense does and how accurate I am with the football," Mendoza said. "He likes that I have a good frame, and how I can also extend plays with my legs."

Mendoza hasn't had a lot of opportunities to show of those skills in games yet. He was the No. 3 quarterback on the Hoosiers' depth chart in 2024, playing behind Kurtis Rourke and Tayven Jackson. His lone pass attempt was a completion for six yards in a 77-3 win over Western Illinois.

After moving up to No. 2 on the depth chart for this season, Mendoza looked good in limited action. The Miami native appeared in nine games, going 18-of-24 for 286 yards with five touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 190 yards and a score on 13 carries.

Appearing on the Inside IU Football podcast on Nov. 13 (h/t Daniel Flick of SI.com), Cignetti noted that Mendoza has taken a "big step" forward this season.

Indiana seems likely to have a quarterback competition in the offseason. Incoming transfer Josh Hoover, who reportedly received a raise from his $2 million NIL deal with TCU in 2025, will presumably enter the spring as the favorite to succeed Fernando as the starter.

Mendoza's familiarity with the offense could give him an advantage, especially if Cignetti and the coaching staff believes he can follow a similar trajectory as Fernando did throughout his college career.