TCU transfer Josh Hoover is stepping into uncharted territories at Bloomington. At no point in its history has Indiana had to replace a national championship-winning QB. Filling in Fernando Mendoza’s shoes will be a herculean task. Head coach Curt Cignetti knows it, and he is handling Hoover’s development prudently while also keeping standards high.

Curt Cignetti appeared on July 30 at the Big 10 Media Days and laid out clear differences between Mendoza and Hoover. He first toned down expectations, saying, “They both play quarterback,” when asked about the similarities between the two QBs. Cignetti knows that viewing Hoover through Mendoza’s lens would put unnecessary pressure on his QB1. However, he also understands what Hoover is capable of.

“Josh Hoover has an innate ability to play the position,” Cignetti said. “Terrific passer… we aren’t going to ask him to go win the game… Fernando was a little taller, maybe a stronger arm, but more raw. What separated Fernando, when the game was on the line in the last three or four minutes, he played his best football.”

The major reason why Cignetti brought Hoover to Bloomington was his RPO processing. Last year, Mendoza had more RPO plays than any other QB. Hover was second. The QB also excelled in making back-shoulder throws that Mendoza perfected last season. If there was any difference, it lay elsewhere.

Mendoza’s 6’5″ and 225 lb frame helped him in open-field scrambling. That was the major reason he notched 276 rushing yards and 7 TDs last year. In comparison, Hoover has a 6’2″ and 200-lb frame and lacks the production Mendoza showed with his legs. Another issue is turnovers.

“Look, numbers are numbers and stats are stats,” Hoover’s former head coach Sonny Dykes said about Hoover’s 2025 interceptions. Dykes’ statement came as a shocker, since Hoover had long since left TCU in January. It did push Cignetti to acknowledge the problem, as he said in the spring that coaches were working on “cleaning up some of the turnovers.”

Josh Hoover is learning the new offense and correcting his mistakes

Ever since enrolling at Indiana on January 4, Hoover has been inclined to learn from his coaches. That says a lot about a QB who has already thrown for 9,629 yards, where other veterans might not have been that willing. The former TCU QB went through all 15 spring practices under QBs coach Tino Sunseri and OC Mike Shanahan. Shanahan is the same coach who developed Mendoza last year.

“Anytime you get a new offense, the first step is learning what it is, learning what you do, what they want, what their idea is, what their picture is for the plays and how they run this offense,” Hoover said last month.

The coaching staff has managed to eliminate his forced throws in narrow windows on secondary reads. He has also developed elite pocket awareness and doesn’t drift backward or throw off foot under pressure. Most importantly, he is effectively leveraging those RPO schemes that Mendoza thrived on last year. That’s probably why Cignetti said Hoover is “right where Fernando was” in the summer.

Despite everything, Josh Hoover still has to become more secure with the ball. He also hasn’t shown those clutch plays as Mendoza showed against Penn State or Miami. Indiana has everything this year in terms of firepower. But it also has one of the toughest schedules amongst Power-4 programs. Hoover must prepare for those games and be mentally ready.