Watch Raiders' Fernando Mendoza Graduate from Cal in Trending Video; Won NCAA Title with Indiana

After leading Indiana to a national championship this past season, Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza capped off his college career in a unique way.

Mendoza received his undergraduate degree from Cal this past weekend and walked during the university's commencement ceremony. The 22-year-old had spent his first three college seasons at Cal before transferring to Indiana ahead of the 2025 campaign.

Per Michael Nowels of The Mercury News, Mendoza finished his coursework at UC Berkeley in three years before moving on to Indiana and becoming the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner and the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft. He was forced to miss the undergraduate commencement on Wednesday while the Raiders had offseason workouts, so he walked at the Haas School of Business graduation ceremony on Saturday at the Greek Theater.

"I hope you don't mind that I invited this person to our MBA commencement. He actually had a really good excuse for missing commencement," Haas dean Jenny Chatman said as she revealed Mendoza's surprise appearance. "He used his hot skills and coursework to negotiate an excellent job and an excellent comp package, but he wasn't able to change his start date when he needed to report to his new job. Can you please help me in welcoming Las Vegas Raider, Heisman Trophy winner, Haas graduate and Cal Bear forever, Fernando Mendoza."

The Raiders signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins this offseason, so Mendoza won't face too much pressure to kick off his NFL career.

Mendoza will continue learning from Cousins as the two of them battle it out for the Raiders' starting quarterback job for the 2026 campaign.