Less than a day after the Mendoza family celebrated a historic national championship victory in Indiana, the Mendoza family is down to zero in Indiana. Indiana backup quarterback Alberto Mendoza, brother of Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, announced today that he will transfer to Georgia Tech.
While the transfer portal closed last week, players on the national championship team were given an extended window after the season. He has until the end of the week to register to complete the transfer.
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Mendoza joins a fairly inexperienced quarterback room under Tech quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke, and to this day, redshirt freshman Graham Knowles was expected to be the starter, but no one has come through. Mendoza has three years of eligibility remaining.
Mendoza has appeared in eight games this season, all in garbage time. He had two touchdowns against Indiana State and two touchdowns against Power 4 contenders (Maryland and Purdue). Alberto has never allowed more than 10 points in a game this season for Indiana.
Alberto is the second outside quarterback under Brent Key and is expected to compete for the starting job. Knowles and current third-string quarterback Grady Adamson both received huge accolades coming out of high school, but their opportunities were always limited behind Haynes King and current Florida quarterback Aaron Philo.
What matters is that we have a person. How Tech will answer its quarterback question after losing Philo is a huge factor looming in the 2026 transfer portal window. In Mendoza, we’re probably getting another three-year guy and surrounding him with head coach Brent Key and offensive coordinator George Godsey. Best case scenario, we have a guy who can get us 8-9, which feels like the ceiling for the program right now. At worst, it’s Knowles time. It could be worse.