Previewing Fernando Mendoza's 2025 Season

Aggregating BSB offseason analysis of Fernando Mendoza and Co. as Indiana's 2025 kickoff nears

This edition of Bite-Sized Bison was produced on August 6.

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Overview

This is a long newsletter, which compiles most of the Fernando Mendoza analysis littered throughout BSBs since Mendoza committed to Indiana on Dec. 24, 2024. I encourage folks to read this in its entirety to have the best idea of Indiana’s QB situation, but in summation:

Fernando Mendoza comes from a Cal offense that ran lots of RPO — more pass-heavy than Indiana in 2024 — but owned one of the worst offensive lines in Power 4 football (5 RBs transferred out this offseason), leading to Mendoza being the 4th-most sacked QB in the nation. Yet, Cal still found a crumb of efficiency by leaning on Mendoza’s capabilities in quick-decision, short-yardage designs and throwing the ball the 22nd-most times in the FBS. His mobility also served him well, as he recorded 334 rushing yards (73% via scrambles) on 52 attempts (sacks removed).

At Indiana, Mendoza is plugged behind a much more capable offensive line (ranked 4th in the Big Ten by BSB) with a proven OC in Mike Shanahan. He will be working with new QBs coach Chandler Whitmer, who is in his first year as a primary QBs coach, and will be flanked by his brother, Alberto, as No. 2 QB and former ODU QB Grant Wilson as No. 3 QB.

Mendoza has big shoes to fill, replacing Kurtis Rourke, and he will need to step up in red-zone and third-down scenarios in particular, where Rourke excelled above most others. He also needs to produce more efficiently on his deep ball, which he will undoubtedly be looking to do for his NFL draft stock as well. But he’s flashed — in spring and fall camps — a strong ability to throw on the run and process his progressions quickly. His passes have also looked very strong early on.

Now, let’s really dig in…

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From “Introducing Chandler Whitmer & Fernando Mendoza” (Jan. 2):

Curt Cignetti hires new QBs coach Chandler Whitmer

New Indiana QBs coach Chandler Whitmer has skyrocketed through the coaching ranks at 33 years old, as he now succeeds Tino Sunseri (who used the same position as a stepping stone toward a Big Ten OC job at UCLA).

This has been Whitmer’s path through the coaching ranks following his playing career at Illinois, Butler (Kan.) Community College, and Connecticut:

• 2018: Yale, graduate assistant

• 2019: Ohio State, graduate assistant

• 2020: Clemson, graduate assistant

• 2021-23: Los Angeles Chargers, offensive quality control (QBs)

• 2024: Atlanta Falcons, passing game specialist

Speaking from personal experience, Whitmer was at Ohio State as a graduate assistant for one season in 2019, when I was covering the Buckeyes for Eleven Warriors. Through just a couple interactions I had with him and simply watching him during practices and coaching/recruiting events, it was clear there was a bright coaching future ahead for Whitmer, along with his other young peers in the building. I’ve repeatedly alluded to the culture at Ohio State, dictated by the coaches’ standards, and how it differed from Indiana’s in recent history, but bringing in Whitmer as QBs coach is yet another sign that the standard continues to rise inside the walls of Memorial Stadium.

On the other hand, this is still Whitmer’s first stop as the primary QBs coach. In every position he’s served, he’s always been at least one spot removed from direct responsibility. So while he’s certainly contributed in developing QBs like Justin Fields (Ohio State, 2019), Trevor Lawrence (Clemson, 2020), Justin Herbert (LA Chargers, 2021-23), and Mike Penix (Atlanta Falcons, 2024), his work with Fernando Mendoza at Indiana in 2025 will be the meat of his resume to this point. That’s not to diminish the roles of grad assistants or quality control coaches – that experience will serve him well, undoubtedly, and they are significant to coaching staffs in many ways particular to each staff – it’s more that he himself has been developed as a coach by coordinators and QBs coaches he’s worked closely with, such as:

• Ryan Day in his first season as Ohio State’s head coach in 2019 working along with Whitmer, Mike Yurcich, and Corey Dennis to scout QBs

• Mike Yurcich, the OC at Ohio State in 2019 and also at Texas and Penn State from 2020-23; got his coaching start at St. Francis in Fort Wayne and served as GA at Indiana in 2003-04

• Tony Elliott, the OC overseeing Whitmer at Clemson in 2020; the 2017 Broyles Award winner; OC for both of Clemson’s CFP titles in 2016 and 2018; and just finished his third season as Virginia’s HC

• Brandon Streeter, Trevor Lawrence’s QBs coach also overseeing Whitmer at Clemson; current offensive analyst at Georgia

• Joe Lombardi, the OC for the LA Chargers overseeing Whitmer in 2021-22; currently the OC for the Denver Broncos during Bo Nix’s impressive rookie season; also the QBs coach for the New Orleans Saints when Indiana alumnus Tracy Porter intercepted Peyton Manning to ice the Super Bowl against the Colts

• Shane Day, the QBs coach and passing game coordinator overseeing Whitmer with the LA Chargers in 2021-22; also Whitmer’s QBs coach at Connecticut from 2012-13; significantly responsible for Justin Hebert’s development in the NFL and was hired back by Jim Harbaugh in 2024 because of it

• Zac Robinson, the OC overseeing Whitmer with the Atlanta Falcons in 2024; was Sean McVay’s QBs coach and passing game coordinator with the LA Rams from 2022-23

As is the case for most coaches, particularly young coaches, Whitmer has needed a connection along the way, and his strongest connection so far has been Shane Day, who is perceived as one of the best QB gurus in football. Whitmer left high school as a four-star QB recruit in 2010, signing with his home-state Illinois Fighting Illini. Due to a logjam of young QBs, he decided to transfer to a JUCO program in Kansas (read his quotes to ESPN on why he left, very impressive), and after one year at the JUCO level, Shane Day – who is from Kansas – helped in recruiting Whitmer to Connecticut, where Day had just assumed the QB coaching role (2012). That 2012 UConn team beat Maryland, Pitt, and Louisville during a 5-7 season, and Shane Day was hired away after 2013 by Sean McVay to Washington (Commanders, now) before Whitmer graduated from UConn in 2014. They reunited with the LA Changers in 2021, as Joe Lombardi (OC) and Shane Day (QBs) – with the help of Whitmer in quality control – shaped Justin Herbert into the QB we know today. Shane Day was let go when Brandon Staley was fired in LA, but Jim Harbaugh hired him back to coach Herbert again when Harbaugh assumed the head coaching job in LA for 2024.

Whitmer finished his playing career in 2014 ranked fourth all-time in passing yards at Connecticut before eventually being hired by Yale as a GA in 2018.

Hiring for this QBs position was always going to be difficult for Indiana. The structure maintained by the staff is fairly uncommon, with OC Mike Shanahan coaching WRs rather than QBs. Hiring to replace Sunseri meant seeking out QBs coaches who didn’t already have OC titles (and therefore, OC salaries). Given these parameters, filling the role that Sunseri played within this coaching system certainly required some consultation, which Curt Cignetti alluded to in Indiana’s press release announcing Whitmer’s hiring, as he said, “Chandler came very highly recommended.” The network Cignetti could tap into when replacing assistants like Sunseri is an unsung attribute that makes Cignetti so valuable as a head coach in 2024.

These types of hires have been a cornerstone on which Cignetti has founded his coaching success. Whitmer is another young coach within a system Cignetti has been managing with Shanahan for a decade. If all goes well with Whitmer at Indiana, one can assume, given his coaching resume, that he would likely be in Bloomington for multiple seasons too.

Plus, Whitmer already has a win at Indiana, as the staff was assuredly able to use his unofficial hiring as a piece in its pursuit of No. 2 transfer QB Fernando Mendoza, who chose Indiana over Georgia and others. Let’s dig into that signing…

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From “Introducing Chandler Whitmer & Fernando Mendoza” (Jan. 2):

Fernando Mendoza signs with Indiana