When Did Curt Cignetti Realize Fernando Mendoza Was So Special??

When did Curt Cignetti realize Fernando Mendoza was special? The Indiana coach liked him from the start, back at Cal, where he saw a talented quarterback who was anything but under the radar.

Cignetti noted Indiana had to beat out Georgia and Miami to land Mendoza, so the talent was obvious. What he needed was work, particularly pocket footwork, which wasn't helped by the protection he played behind at Cal. The progress came in stages. Mendoza had a big game against Illinois in Indiana's first Big Ten home game and started to build on his successes. He played well at the end of the Iowa game, which the Hoosiers won in the final minute. He made a mistake at Oregon and overcame it to lead them to a victory. And then there was the Penn State comeback, which Cignetti said he'd never seen anything like.

The part that makes Mendoza so easy to root for is the contrast between how he comes across and who he actually is. He can seem a little geeky in interviews, Cignetti acknowledged, but the guy is a lion as a competitor, ferocious and tough, who makes plays with his arm and his legs. And the genuineness people sometimes doubt is real. Cignetti called him a deep, extremely intelligent person who can talk about a lot of different things and is committed to being great.

The highest praise came on preparation. Tom Brady was Mendoza's idol, and in 45 years of coaching, Cignetti said, he's never been around anyone who prepared like Mendoza did, covering every base and then some. Cignetti even said he learned from him, because that's what the great ones do. The detail and preparation never end, and the toughness Mendoza showed pulled the whole team together.