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Donald Trump sounds off on Fernando Mendoza’s absence from Hoosiers’ White House visit
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- Donald Trump sounds off on Fernando Mendoza’s absence from Hoosiers’ White House visit
Donald Trump sounds off on Fernando Mendoza's absence from Hoosiers' White House visit appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Indiana Hoosiers won the 2026 NCAA College Football Championship, led by quarterback Fernando Mendoza . The eventual No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft was selected by the worst team in the league last season, the Las Vegas Raiders , who now hope they've found the quarterback to lead their franchise into a better and brighter future.
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On Monday, the Hoosiers made their trip to the White House to visit Donald Trump in celebration of their NCAA CFB Championship victory over the Miami Hurricanes .
The only absence was the 2025 Heisman-winning QB Fernando Mendoza.
When asked about attending the White House earlier this month, Mendoza said that if the White House visit coincides with the first day of the NFL's Organized Team Activities, he would likely miss the trip .
"I believe May 11th is the first day of OTA's, if I'm not mistaken," Mendoza said, via The Sporting News. "If it is on the first day of OTA's, like I said, I'm on the bottom of the totem pole here. I've got to prove myself. I can't miss practice. I'm not saying it's anything official, but I don't have the calendar. But I just, as a rookie, I don't think that's agood look and I want to try to best serve my teammates and I don't know if that would be accomplishing that goal. Although it would be [nice]."
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The Hoosiers were indeed able to complete their trip on Monday, and Donald Trump spoke about the absence of the Raiders No. 1 overall pick.
"This season was also historic because of starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza," Trump said in his speech. "Now, the reason he's not here, he was so nice, he called because he is actually, JD [Vance], he's a big fan of ours. You wouldn't believe it because he didn't show up. I'm not happy, but that's okay. The reason he didn't is because he's at spring training. And I actually said, 'let him! He's got to win.' And I think he's going to win pretty early coach, right? You think pretty good?"
"Time will tell," Curt Cignetti respectfully responded as he stood beside Trump.
Trump continued to address Mendoza's accomplishments throughout the season, including becoming the first Heisman winner from the University of Indiana, while mixing in a couple extra rants about the quarterback's absence from the team's visit to Washington D.C.
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"He's going to be a good one," Donald Trump added. "A lot of people said they're going to win, but I think he will. No, he's been great. And he's at spring training like his first day or something. I said, you better go there. But he became Indiana's first. Otherwise, if I didn't do that, I believe me, I wouldn't have even talked about him. I would have not— if he was not here for other reasons, like he didn't like Trump or he didn't want to come. I wouldn't even mention him. I'd go through the whole [thing], I'd talk about how great [it is]. I wouldn't even mention the quarterback's name, but he's a great guy actually. And he is actually a big fan of what we're doing for our country.
"But he became Indiana's first ever Heisman Trophy winner, right coach? And Fernando completed 226 of 316 passes. That's good. Throwing for 2,980 yards. Let's round it off for 3,000. Okay. I'm going to round that off a little bit, coach. 3,000 yards and a nation-leading 33 touchdowns. Fernando couldn't be here today because as I said, he's now a member of the Las Vegas Raiders . And let's see how good a team they have. And I think he's going to do great. He's a winner.
Mendoza was drafted to the Raiders with very high expectations, as he goes from the winningest player and team of the season to the worst team in the NFL.
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The 2026 season won't be kicking off until September 9, 2026, so Mendoza will have plenty of time to train with his new teammates and develop a rapport heading into what will be a big rookie season for the quarterback.
The NFL will be releasing it's full 2026 regular season schedule this week, so everyone will know very shortly who and when Mendoza will be playing. One thing is certain: Mendoza and the Raiders will not be playing the Indianapolis Colts this season, so a return to The Hoosier State will have to wait.
Related: Raiders reporter in awe of Fernando Mendoza's 'spin' at OTA
