Indiana football OC Mike Shanahan praises backup QB Alberto Mendoza
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ATLANTA — Indiana football offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan wasn’t able to address the program landing a commitment from TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover at the Peach Bowl media day on Thursday night, but he did talk about Hoover’s potential competition at the position for 2026, Alberto Mendoza.
Mendoza, a redshirt freshman, backed up his brother Fernando this season and will be entering his third year with the program next season.
While Fernando hasn’t officially announced his plans for next year, the addition of Hoover is a strong sign he’s headed to the NFL as the likely top pick in the draft.
“It’s just like every position, we are always trying to upgrade and trying to create competition,” Shanahan said. “Competition usually brings the best out of everybody. That’s always been coach Cignetti’s approach and what we try to do at every position, bring the best guys we can into the program to help us win and bring the best out of each individual.”
Leading up to the Rose Bowl, Alberto told The Herald-Times that the coaching staff has kept him up to date on their plans at the position. He made it clear he wants to eventually win the starting job in Bloomington and be Fernando’s successor just as he was at Columbus High School in Florida where he had a 10-0 record in the postseason that included victories in back-to-back state titles.
“He’s always been very confident, he’s always put the work in,” Shanahan said. “He’s a winner; he won at the high school level. Those are all attributes you love about him.”
The one-time James Madison commitment got plenty of reps this season backing his brother with Indiana regularly blowing opponents out. He played double-digit snaps in six games this season and was plenty effective running the offense as well.
Alberto threw for 286 yards (75%) and added 190 yards on the ground while scoring six total touchdowns (five passing).
“I think it’s been invaluable for him,” Shanahan said. “One thing that jumped out to us is his athleticism, his ability to use his legs to make plays. We saw it last week, but you’ve seen it in other games as well. Whenever we’ve asked him to throw the ball, he’s made good decisions. There’s only one or two he’d like to have back.”
Fernando and Alberto became the first set of brothers to throw a touchdown pass in the same game for the same team since 2015 (Arkansas’ Brandon and Austin Allen) in a Week 2 win over Kennesaw State and went on to accomplish the feat three more times.
“I definitely expected to play that much,” Alberto said with a smile. “We expected to blow out teams, that’s just the standard we had here. I expected my brother to throw five touchdowns and me to go in the game and throw two. That was the expectation.”
Alberto felt like the improvements he made will set him up well for next season.
“Very valuable, just going out there and showing the coaches I can go out there and operate and make the right decisions under pressure, operate the offense efficiently, control the huddle,” Alberto said. “All that is invaluable. Just doing that in the game, I can do it in practice and do it very, very well, but you can’t teach when you go in the game.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football OC Mike Shanahan commends backup QB Alberto Mendoza
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