Fernando Mendoza’s Heisman Trophy win continues trend of transfer dominance
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Fernando Mendoza not only made history in winning the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, he continued to show that we’re living in a whole new era of college football.
It’s the era of the transfer player. Naturally, not every transfer works out for their new program, but Mendoza making good on his transfer from California to become Indiana’s first Heisman winner is now part of a narrative that is taking over the sport. Of the past 10 Heisman Trophy winners, including Mendoza, an astounding 7 of them were transfers. This now decade-long dominant run by the transfer player includes transfers winning the past 4 Heisman Trophies.
Mendoza is a Miami kid, but he played at Cal for 3 years before deciding to come to Bloomington and the Big Ten. Indiana and Mendoza both reaped the biggest rewards possible in his first season at IU, continuing that trend of transfer magic in college football.
Before Mendoza, there was Travis Hunter last season, Jayden Daniels in 2023 and Caleb Williams the year before that.
The other 3 transfers to strike Heisman gold in the past decade were Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow.
Mendoza was just the latest, and judging by the past 10 years he likely will be far from the last transfer to capture college football’s grandest award.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
