Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza Selected as the 2025 Walter Camp Player of the Year

Indiana University quarterback Fernando Mendoza (Miami, FL) has been selected as the 2025 Walter Camp Player of Year, presented by Crabtree Lexus of New Haven.

NEW HAVEN, CT, UNITED STATES, December 10, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Indiana University junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza (Miami, FL) has been selected as the 2025 Walter Camp Player of the Year, presented by Crabtree Lexus of New Haven.

The award was announced on ESPN’s College Football Live. The award was presented in Indiana by Walter Camp President, John Barbarotta; President-Elect, Mike Madera; and Al Carbone, Public Relations.

The award was locally produced by Barker Specialty Company, who additionally supplied Walter Camp branded Adidas pullovers, which can be ordered on the Walter Camp Fan Shop. The Player of the Year award reflects the greatness of football which combines individual talent with the importance of teamwork.

The Walter Camp Player of the Year is voted on by the nation’s 136 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports communicators.
Other finalists for the 2025 Walter Camp Player of the Year include running back Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame), linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (Texas Tech), and quarterbacks Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) and Julian Sayin (Ohio State).

The 59th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, Mendoza is the second Indiana player to win the prestigious honor, joining the former Hoosier running back Anthony Thompson (1989). Mendoza is also the 24th quarterback to win the award. Mendoza has led the top-ranked Hoosiers to a 13-0 mark this season. On December 6, he passed for 222 yards and one touchdown as Indiana captured its first-ever Big Ten Championship with a 13-10 victory over Ohio State.

The Hoosiers will await the Oklahoma/Alabama winner in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals on Jan. 1 at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

For the season, Mendoza has thrown for 2,980 yards, completing 71.5 percent (226-of-316) of his passes. He also set a school season record with 33 touchdown passes. He ranks second in the nation with a 181.40 passing efficiency rating. He has thrown for 200 or more yards in a game nine times this season, including a season-high 332 (24-of-28, 4 touchdowns) in a win over Michigan State on Oct. 18. Mendoza has also rushed for six touchdowns. Mendoza’s signature moment came in a comeback win at Penn State on Nov. 8, when he led a 77-yard drive culminating with a game-winning seven-yard touchdown strike to Omar Cooper with 35 seconds remaining.

Mendoza was named the Big Ten’s Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year and Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year. He is the first Hoosier to earn the conference's quarterback of the year honor since its inception in 2011.

Walter Camp Player of the Year Facts
• First awarded in 1967, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is the 59th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of Year award.
• Mendoza is the 24th quarterback to win the award. There have been 25 running backs, five wide receivers, one wide receiver/defensive back, one tight end and three defensive players.
• Colorado’s Travis Hunter (2024) was the first two-way player to win the award.
• Three players – USC’s OJ. Simpson (1967, 1968), Ohio State’s Archie Griffin (1974, 1975) and Texas’ Colt McCoy (2008, 2009) have been multiple winners.
• Three defensive players have won the award – Pittsburgh’s Hugh Green (1980), Michigan’s Charles Woodson (1997) and Notre Dame’s Manti Teo (2012).
• Players from 26 different schools have earned the award. USC has won the most Player of Year awards (7), followed by Oklahoma, Ohio State and Notre Dame with four each.

Past Walter Camp Players of the Year, presented by Crabtree Lexus of New Haven are:

2024 – Travis Hunter, WR/DB, Colorado
2023 – Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU
2022 – Caleb Williams, QB, USC
2021 – Kenneth Walker III, RB, Michigan State
2020 – DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama
2019 – Joe Burrow, QB, LSU
2018 – Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama
2017 – Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
2016 – Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville
2015 – Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama
2014 – Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
2013 – Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State
2012 – Manti Te’o, LB, Notre Dame
2011 – Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
2010 – Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
2009 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
2008 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
2007 – Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
2006 – Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State
2005 – Reggie Bush, RB, USC
2004 – Matt Leinart, QB, USC
2003 – Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Pittsburgh
2002 – Larry Johnson, RB, Penn State
2001 – Eric Crouch, QB, Nebraska
2000 – Josh Heupel, QB, Oklahoma

Considered the “Father of American Football,” Walter Camp introduced the play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and
tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side in 1880. Nine years later, Mr. Camp, then the Yale University head coach, selected the first-ever college football All-America team.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team. The prestigious Player of the Year Award is sponsored by Crabtree Lexus of New Haven, a long time supporter.

Al Carbone
Walter Camp Football Foundation
+1 203-671-4421
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