As predicted, the 2025 Heisman Trophy Award went to Fernando Mendoza, and it wasn’t even close. The signal caller now heads to the College Football Playoff, where he hopes to quarterback the Hoosiers to a national title. He is then very likely to move towards the draft as the first or second pick of the entire event. But how do Mendoza’s numbers this year compare to those of prior Heisman Trophy winners? And does that say anything about the quarterback being such an early selection in the draft?

Mendoza won the Heisman with 2,362 total votes, including 643 first-place votes, far outpacing the second-place finisher, Diego Pavia of Vanderbilt. Pavia received just 1,435 votes and 189 first-place votes, the latter being less than one-third of the total brought in by Mendoza.

The Indiana quarterback won all six regions of Heisman voting handily, the first time that has happened since Caleb Williams in 2022. He accrued almost 85% of the total votes cast, seventh best in the history of the Heisman Trophy.

Ironically, Mendoza’s statistics are at the low end of recent Heisman victors. As mentioned in my preview piece the day before the trophy was handed out, Mendoza’s 2,980 passing yards this season were the lowest of any Heisman-winning quarterback since Cam Newton, who passed for 2,854 yards in 2010.

Of course, Newton did add 1,473 rushing yards and 20 TDs on the ground the season he was named the winner of the Heisman. Mendoza’s ground numbers pale in comparison, as he produced 240 yards rushing with six scores.

All recent quarterbacks who were awarded the trophy passed for over 1,000 more yards than Mendoza, with Lamar Jackson being the recent exception in 2016. Then again, Jackson rushed for 1,571 yards that season, giving him combined passing and running numbers that exceeded 5,000 yards and 51 touchdowns.

And while Mendoza, the first Heisman Trophy winner to come from Indiana, clearly deserved the award this season, as the voting proved, his numbers pale in comparison to signal callers who held up the trophy over the past 15 years. Were he part of the Heisman competition prior to this year, he would’ve been third or fourth down the list of candidates.

How does that reflect on the upcoming draft, where Mendoza is expected to be a top-three pick?

Mendoza will not be graded as highly as Cam Ward, the first pick of the 2025 NFL draft. I’ll go on record and say he would’ve been the fourth-rated quarterback were he part of the 2024 draft that included former Heisman Trophy winners Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, as well as Drake Maye. Those quarterbacks were the first, second, and third picks of that draft, respectively.

There is a lot to like about Mendoza on and off the field. He plays mistake-free and intelligent football and is a true leader of the offense that teammates rally around. He came up big for Indiana during critical moments this past season, and his post-game interview after defeating Ohio State in the Big Ten conference championship, as well as his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, have been embraced by teams and earned him points in the scouting community.

Yet Mendoza is not a generational talent or true franchise quarterback; rather, he’s a gutsy leader who, if coached as well as developed properly, can lead a team on Sundays. Regardless of how his NFL career eventually turns out, Mendoza will forever be known as a Heisman Trophy winner.

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