For everyone outside of the Indiana football locker room it is impossible to ignore the hype surrounding both Indiana football and their quarterback Fernando Mendoza. With the Hoosiers ranked second in the nation and ‘Heis-Mendoza’ chats bouncing around Memorial Stadium are becoming louder. However, Indiana’s quarterback is locked in to the task at hand.
“The only social media that’s on my phone right now is LinkedIn and YouTube to watch videos. I have Alberto handle my Instagram, and some marketing people handle my Instagram. But other than that, I’m not on any social media, especially because I want to keep everything inside the building.” Mendoza said after IU’s 50-point win over UCLA.
Narrowing his focus on football has paid off. The Heisman Trophy contender has completed 72.9-percent of his passes for 1,923 yards and 24 touchdowns. He is on pace to blow past IU’s school-record for touchdown passes (29) which was set last year by Kurtis Rourke.
IU head coach Curt Cignetti has been laser focused on the task at hand as well, but has not sat down with Mendoza yet to make sure he’s locked in.
“Up to this point we haven’t had a one-on-one regarding that. I know he’s got a lot of support off the field.” Cignetti said. “My messages to the team are always about staying focused on the here and now and things that affect preparation and positive performance and eliminating the noise and clutter. And he’s always tuned into those messages as well. But as we move further down the road on a daily basis, the antenna is always up.”
While Mendoza has offloaded most of his social media, he still dabbles in YouTube videos, but only as a tool to soak up more football knowledge.
“I usually watch, like, NFL highlights or anything. I sometimes watch crit Warner breakdown. Sometimes I watch a guy named MMG, so I just watch a couple people.” Mendoza said.
Mendoza has bought into Cignetti’s philosophy hook, line and sinker so a meeting may not be necessary.
“I think it really comes down to Coach Cignetti’s philosophy of keeping it one play, one game at a time. I think our team did great, especially because there’s a lot of outside noise.” Mendoza said.
The outside noise is only going to grow louder. The Hoosiers have found themselves on national TV (CBS, Fox, NBC) in four of their eight games so far and that number will increase as the end of the regular season draws closer and the Playoff talk heats up.
Cignetti does not dish out compliments lightly so when he gives Mendoza one, he’s earned it.
“I think he’s handled (the outside noise) great. He improves every week, makes plays. And I thought he made a lot of really nice plays Saturday.”
The Hoosiers and Mendoza return to the field on Saturday as his Heisman campaign marches on against a Maryland Terrapin team who has a defense that pounces on turnovers.