https://www.theplayerstribune.com/fernando-mendoza-elsa-mom-ncaa-football-indiana-hoosiers

And finally, I think about last year, when you made the decision to transfer from Cal. I know how much you cherished your time there…… you're a true "Golden Bear," with the amazing degree to prove it!! But I also know, at a certain point, that you had another goal in mind: to make the NFL. And in talking to Alberto about his development at IU, you became convinced that playing for Coach Cignetti and his staff was the right path forward. I saw how it all weighed on you, though and how at first you almost felt bad for having fun in Bloomington, because a piece of your heart was still in Berkeley. But to me that's one of your best qualities. You have a tenderness about you that I think is rare in sports. And eventually you realized what I knew you would: We move through life in chapters! And enjoying the chapter we're on now doesn't diminish the one we were on before.

Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

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He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

When Mendoza gets to the pros, will his player profile college show Indiana, Cal, or both?

PAC-10-BEAR said:

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When Mendoza gets to the pros, will his player profile college show Indiana, Cal, or both?

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Butte College

a la Robert Frost; i came to a path which diverged in 2 direction [poor recollection].

If M had stayed at Cal, aside from the change in his own future, probably no JKS and who knows wo/JKs does tosh come?

oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

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I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the move

DoubtfulBear said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

---

I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the move

---

Lucky to be drafted at all implies that Cignetti made something out of nothing. Thanks!

I saw the headline of this Players Tribune article and avoided it b/c I knew it wouldn't do anything positive for me.

I don't dislike him b/c he transferred, I dislike him b/c of the way he did it. He pretended to be sick in order to skip the SMU game, then tried to persuade JKS not to come here b/c he was running the show. He did all of this after the stanfurd post game speech about "going 98 yards with my boys".

If he hadn't handled his departure the way he did I think I would be fine with the outcome. I missed having Ott/Endries/Jet on the team this year, but they don't illicit the same negative reaction from me as Mendoza does.

Just my $0.02.

oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

---

I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the move

---

Lucky to be drafted at all implies that Cignetti made something out of nothing. Thanks!

---

Every year there are hundreds if not thousands of good college players who are far more than "nothing" who are not drafted.

bearfan93 said:

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I saw the headline of this Players Tribune article and avoided it b/c I knew it wouldn't do anything positive for me.

I don't dislike him b/c he transferred, I dislike him b/c of the way he did it. He pretended to be sick in order to skip the SMU game, then tried to persuade JKS not to come here b/c he was running the show. He did all of this after the stanfurd post game speech about "going 98 yards with my boys".

If he hadn't handled his departure the way he did I think I would be fine with the outcome. I missed having Ott/Endries/Jet on the team this year, but they don't illicit the same negative reaction from me as Mendoza does.

Just my $0.02.

---

****ing around with JKS speaks volumes about his character. Was he just doing his future ex brother a solid? That sucked. Faking an injury days after the crying, smiling, emotional speech gets called into question because of talking to Cal's recruit. I'll cut him some slack if JKS came to him for his honest opinion on Cal.

Marketing piece......

As much as I hate Mendoza for "having the flu" which caused him to sit out our bowl game and hug and hang out with all of our players who didn't "have the flu" while somehow not infecting them with the same "flu"…
I'm sure underneath it all he bled blue and gold and I wish him the best.
That said his throwing mechanics are not going to translate to the next level unless he changes.despite his high release point and his stature; he squats down like a Benedict Arnold who just ate at La burrita and is pooping in the woods and throws from a low point which negates all that. Dlines in the nfl are going to bat that stuff down all day long because he certainly can't throw on the run. JKS on the other hand? An nfl gm's dream.

Chill people, this is just a puff piece personal interest story for them to highlight during the 2-hour long Heisman ceremony to make moms cry. There's no real takeaway either positive or negative. This is just standard character background storybuilding that the producers and the committee love to focus on during the broadcast and deliberations.

I'm fairly positive that she was advised to do it by either his agent, a publicist, a representative of the Heisman trust, or the ESPN broadcast team. Otherwise there's absolutely no reason to make it public rather than sending it to Fernando personally

No thanks for Indiana's defense holding Ohio State to 10 points eh?

Bearly Clad said:

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Chill people, this is just a puff piece personal interest story for them to highlight during the 2-hour long Heisman ceremony to make moms cry. There's no real takeaway either positive or negative. This is just standard character background storybuilding that the producers and the committee love to focus on during the broadcast and deliberations.

I'm fairly positive that she was advised to do it by either his agent, a publicist, a representative of the Heisman trust, or the ESPN broadcast team. Otherwise there's absolutely no reason to make it public rather than sending it to Fernando personally

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Fernando might have even gotten some help writing it from ChatGTP

DoubtfulBear said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

---

I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the
move

---

The ACC pre season reports specifically addressed Mendoza's move to Indiana. The TV analysts praised Wilcox for finding a diamond in the rough and training him up to be a high Portal prospect
The analysts said this will happen again and again to second tier teams who don't have the financial backing to compete financially with the Top Tier teams.
They will find the diamonds in the rough and lose them (get poached by) to the Big Boys.

So yes Indiana did NOT "find" Mendoza. Cal found Mendoza, trained him up and Indiana poached him.

GivemTheAxe said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

---

I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the
move

---

The ACC pre season reports specifically addressed Mendoza's move to Indiana. The TV analysts praised Wilcox for finding a diamond in the rough and training him up to be a high Portal prospect
The analysts said this will happen again and again to second tier teams who don't have the financial backing to compete financially with the Top Tier teams.
They will find the diamonds in the rough and lose them (get poached by) to the Big Boys.

So yes Indiana did NOT "find" Mendoza. Cal found Mendoza, trained him up and Indiana poached him.

---

There is a ton of irony here if Indiana is considered a "Big Boy". Indiana, at least prior to the last two seasons, had lost more games in its history than any other school, well over 700. Cal's football history is way better than theirs, not even close (although they have been to the Rose Bowl more recently, in 1967. I think their only time). I didn't look up their recent history, the last 50 years or so, but I would hazard that they didn't even have the short bursts of good teams that Cal did during that time. I find it almost miraculous that they could turn things around so dramatically in just two years, but they will have to sustain that if they want to be a Big Boy on the OSU/Michigan level. Having said that, I agree with the point being made about developing players and then losing them to programs up the food chain.

They did this to draw a contrast with Pavia, who can be a bit rough around the edges and whose family has had some recent run-ins.

Either way, Pavia is the people's champion.

AceBear said:

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Either way, Pavia is the people's champion.

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He is also really damn good and a lot of dudes who know ball will be pissed if he doesn't win on Saturday

DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

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iTs ThE wAy He DiD iT 1!

calumnus said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

---

I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the move

---

Lucky to be drafted at all implies that Cignetti made something out of nothing. Thanks!

---

Every year there are hundreds if not thousands of good college players who are far more than "nothing" who are not drafted.

---

Cool.

GivemTheAxe said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

---

I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the
move

---

The ACC pre season reports specifically addressed Mendoza's move to Indiana. The TV analysts praised Wilcox for finding a diamond in the rough and training him up to be a high Portal prospect
The analysts said this will happen again and again to second tier teams who don't have the financial backing to compete financially with the Top Tier teams.
They will find the diamonds in the rough and lose them (get poached by) to the Big Boys.

So yes Indiana did NOT "find" Mendoza. Cal found Mendoza, trained him up and Indiana poached him.

---

Yup.

AceBear said:

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They did this to draw a contrast with Pavia, who can be a bit rough around the edges and whose family has had some recent run-ins.

Either way, Pavia is the people's champion.

---

When I looked up a photo of him I thought, this guy has done some fighting. Yep, 2x HS State Champion in wrestling. He looks like an MMA fighter that could have been cast as Marine in a John Wayne movie.

MiZery said:

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https://www.theplayerstribune.com/fernando-mendoza-elsa-mom-ncaa-football-indiana-hoosiers

And finally, I think about last year, when you made the decision to transfer from Cal. I know how much you cherished your time there…… you're a true "Golden Bear," with the amazing degree to prove it!! But I also know, at a certain point, that you had another goal in mind: to make the NFL. And in talking to Alberto about his development at IU, you became convinced that playing for Coach Cignetti and his staff was the right path forward. I saw how it all weighed on you, though and how at first you almost felt bad for having fun in Bloomington, because a piece of your heart was still in Berkeley. But to me that's one of your best qualities. You have a tenderness about you that I think is rare in sports. And eventually you realized what I knew you would: We move through life in chapters! And enjoying the chapter we're on now doesn't diminish the one we were on before.

---

Barf. Whatever you say Mrs Mendoza.

To me this whole saga just shows that Wilcox was bad at connecting with top players and making them want to be in his program. I don't know what the mechanism behind that was: being personally liked, the way he ran the program or set the depth chart, what he demanded of players, the assistants he hired, or something else. Maybe all of that together. But whatever the stew, it added up to a program with consistently bad recruiting rankings and that later started bleeding portal transfers despite a fairly robust NIL fund.

Hopefully the Tosh era can turn this perception around. JKS is a great start!

sycasey said:

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To me this whole saga just shows that Wilcox was bad at connecting with top players and making them want to be in his program. I don't know what the mechanism behind that was: being personally liked, the way he ran the program or set the depth chart, what he demanded of players, the assistants he hired, or something else. Maybe all of that together. But whatever the stew, it added up to a program with consistently bad recruiting rankings and that later started bleeding portal transfers despite a fairly robust NIL fund.

Hopefully the Tosh era can turn this perception around. JKS is a great start!

---

He didn't sell the program.
He viewed cal as a stepping stone and probably didn't appreciate the university as a whole…
Alums do!
Which is why I've been screaming for an alum like tosh or desean as head coach since forever.
They know we produced Warren, they know we produced Doolittle, they know we helped produce Nimitz, they know we produced Salk, they know we single-handedly won the war in the pacific (yep…sorry u Chicago no Berkeley no a bomb…we literally conceived it, designed it and f'ing built it. Ya'll imposters just piggy backed), CRISPR, fission, etc., etc.

But most importantly an alum knows we have 2000ish alumni worth a collective have trillion dollars making us collectively the wealthiest alumni base on the planet.
And so when gameday comes to town or when the star qb is maybe going to bolt for more money.
An alum seizes the moment and lets the LIGHT IN not out and taps into that alumni wealth and builds momentum on top of momentum instead of squandering it because deep down they're in love with liberal arts bottom 50 colleges in hick towns using Joe bobs ford Lincoln mercury dealership to pay for play using players that are from our backyard to begin with.
Tosh has awakened a giant. He's a good salesman. And we have cash that dwarfs all of the "blue bloods".
Screen shot this if you want and come back to it in 2 years but I fully expect us to win a natty within 2 years.
When the portal opens in a few weeks more will believe what I'm saying.

CNHTH said:

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As much as I hate Mendoza for "having the flu" which caused him to sit out our bowl game and hug and hang out with all of our players who didn't "have the flu" while somehow not infecting them with the same "flu"…
I'm sure underneath it all he bled blue and gold and I wish him the best.
That said his throwing mechanics are not going to translate to the next level unless he changes.despite his high release point and his stature; he squats down like a Benedict Arnold who just ate at La burrita and is pooping in the woods and throws from a low point which negates all that. Dlines in the nfl are going to bat that stuff down all day long because he certainly can't throw on the run. JKS on the other hand? An nfl gm's dream.

---

this is some battered woman syndrome? "he beat me, but deep down he loves me" -- yeah ok, bro. believe what you want. mendoza didnt give an F about Cal or his teammates. it is what is, he went for what he believed was best for him and his family.

PAC-10-BEAR said:

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When Mendoza gets to the pros, will his player profile college show Indiana, Cal, or both?

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It's standard practice to display your last school.

CNHTH said:

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sycasey said:

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To me this whole saga just shows that Wilcox was bad at connecting with top players and making them want to be in his program. I don't know what the mechanism behind that was: being personally liked, the way he ran the program or set the depth chart, what he demanded of players, the assistants he hired, or something else. Maybe all of that together. But whatever the stew, it added up to a program with consistently bad recruiting rankings and that later started bleeding portal transfers despite a fairly robust NIL fund.

Hopefully the Tosh era can turn this perception around. JKS is a great start!

---

He didn't sell the program.
He viewed cal as a stepping stone and probably didn't appreciate the university as a whole…
Alums do!
Which is why I've been screaming for an alum like tosh or desean as head coach since forever.
They know we produced Warren, they know we produced Doolittle, they know we helped produce Nimitz, they know we produced Salk, they know we single-handedly won the war in the pacific (yep…sorry u Chicago no Berkeley no a bomb…we literally conceived it, designed it and f'ing built it. Ya'll imposters just piggy backed), CRISPR, fission, etc., etc.

But most importantly an alum knows we have 2000ish alumni worth a collective have trillion dollars making us collectively the wealthiest alumni base on the planet.
And so when gameday comes to town or when the star qb is maybe going to bolt for more money.
An alum seizes the moment and lets the LIGHT IN not out and taps into that alumni wealth and builds momentum on top of momentum instead of squandering it because deep down they're in love with liberal arts bottom 50 colleges in hick towns using Joe bobs ford Lincoln mercury dealership to pay for play using players that are from our backyard to begin with.
Tosh has awakened a giant. He's a good salesman. And we have cash that dwarfs all of the "blue bloods".
Screen shot this if you want and come back to it in 2 years but I fully expect us to win a natty within 2 years.
When the portal opens in a few weeks more will believe what I'm saying.

---

If JKS is the QB for this team for the 2027 season, then that means we've done well in the portal in January, we've done well in the 2026 season and that we are on track to being in the CFB Playoff. Winning the Natty in January of 2028 is all dependent on JKS and if he's here still, it means that he's been put in a position to do that.

bearfan93 said:

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I saw the headline of this Players Tribune article and avoided it b/c I knew it wouldn't do anything positive for me.

I don't dislike him b/c he transferred, I dislike him b/c of the way he did it. He pretended to be sick in order to skip the SMU game, then tried to persuade JKS not to come here b/c he was running the show. He did all of this after the stanfurd post game speech about "going 98 yards with my boys".

If he hadn't handled his departure the way he did I think I would be fine with the outcome. I missed having Ott/Endries/Jet on the team this year, but they don't illicit the same negative reaction from me as Mendoza does.

Just my $0.02.

---

If the supposed insiders on the premium board are so confident that Mendoza tried to screw JKS over, why is there no physical evidence? Where are the screenshots of the text message exchanges? I heard the same talking points parroted over and over since a year ago but where is the proof that it actually happened?

GivemTheAxe said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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oski003 said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

He was the #4 transfer QB in a market that included big names. Indiana did not find a needle in a haystack.

---

I always knew your reading comprehension was bad but this is a new low. Where did I mention anything about Indiana lucking out in finding Mendoza? I'm saying that Mendoza is fortunate to have left instead of being "loyal" to Cal. It's undisputed that his on field performance and draft position was highly impacted by the
move

---

The ACC pre season reports specifically addressed Mendoza's move to Indiana. The TV analysts praised Wilcox for finding a diamond in the rough and training him up to be a high Portal prospect
The analysts said this will happen again and again to second tier teams who don't have the financial backing to compete financially with the Top Tier teams.
They will find the diamonds in the rough and lose them (get poached by) to the Big Boys.

So yes Indiana did NOT "find" Mendoza. Cal found Mendoza, trained him up and Indiana poached him.

---

Being a high portal prospect is nowhere close to being the Heisman frontrunner and potentially the #1 draft pick. When the Mendoza to Heisman thread first came out, the vast majority of people didn't take it seriously, especially all the Mendoza haters on this board. Now that he's actually likely to win it, you want to give all the credit to Wilcox? You guys are a joke

DoubtfulBear said:

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bearfan93 said:

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I saw the headline of this Players Tribune article and avoided it b/c I knew it wouldn't do anything positive for me.

I don't dislike him b/c he transferred, I dislike him b/c of the way he did it. He pretended to be sick in order to skip the SMU game, then tried to persuade JKS not to come here b/c he was running the show. He did all of this after the stanfurd post game speech about "going 98 yards with my boys".

If he hadn't handled his departure the way he did I think I would be fine with the outcome. I missed having Ott/Endries/Jet on the team this year, but they don't illicit the same negative reaction from me as Mendoza does.

Just my $0.02.

---

If the supposed insiders on the premium board are so confident that Mendoza tried to screw JKS over, why is there no physical evidence? Where are the screenshots of the text message exchanges? I heard the same talking points parroted over and over since a year ago but where is the proof that it actually happened?

---

"Supposed insider" here. Who ever said that Mendoza tried to screw JKS over?

DoubtfulBear said:

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Imagine if Mendoza didn't get the Cignetti development but wasted another year under Wilcox. He would be lucky to get drafted at all

---

Here are the top 5 transfer QBs and their draft projections, hyperbolebear.

1) Nico Iamaleava: 4th Round
2) Carson Beck: 2nd Round
3) John Mateer: 4th Round
4) Fernando: 1st Round
5) JKS: 1st Round

It looks like all the top 5 transfer QBs are projected to be drafted. The facts don't support your assertion.