{"id":6819,"date":"2026-01-24T08:49:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T13:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/?p=6819"},"modified":"2026-01-24T08:55:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T13:55:39","slug":"declared-underclassmen-for-nfl-draft-qb-fernando-mendoza-makes-it-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/declared-underclassmen-for-nfl-draft-qb-fernando-mendoza-makes-it-official\/","title":{"rendered":"Declared Underclassmen for NFL Draft QB Fernando Mendoza Makes it Official"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header clearfix\">\n<h3 class=\"entry-title\">Declared Underclassmen for NFL Draft<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-926 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NflDraftnew-277x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"277\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NflDraftnew-277x300.jpg 277w, https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NflDraftnew-300x325.jpg 300w, https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NflDraftnew-600x651.jpg 600w, https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NflDraftnew.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 277px) 100vw, 277px\" \/><br \/>\nFernando Mendoza Makes it Official<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"entry-content clearfix\">\n<h4>January 24, 2026 \u2013 updated<\/h4>\n<h4><em>Draft Insiders\u2019 NFL Draft Prospects<\/em><br \/>\nDeclaration Day \u2013 January 23rd<\/h4>\n<h3>QB Fernando Mendoza Makes it Official<br \/>\nOT Francis Mauigoa Enters NFL Draft &amp; Joins Teammates<\/h3>\n<h3>Indiana Corner D&#8217;Angelo Ponds Declares for NFL Draft<\/h3>\n<p>Highly regarded Indiana QB\u00a0 Fernando Mendoza made it official Friday to enter the 2026 NFL draft. He has projected as the #1 overall pick in April. Players in the national title game had until Jan 23rd to declare and both Indiana and Miami lost premier prospects on the final day. Mendoza had a Heisman Tropy award season and directed the Hoosiers to their first national championship. He is expected to be selected by the Las Vegas Raiders.\u00a0 His teammante, corner D&#8217;Angelo Ponds also entered the NFL Draft after an excellent 2025 performance especially in big games. He projects to the 2nd day of the NFL Draft 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Miami RT Francis Mauigoa also declared after an outstanding 2025 performance. He projects near the top of a very talented 2026 class and most likely a top ten selection. Indiana OT Carter Smith announced he will be returning to the Hooisers. No official word from Indiana wideout Omar Cooper on his decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-bottom-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819?print=print\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Printer Friendly<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Declared Underclassmen for NFL Draft Fernando Mendoza Makes it Official January 24, 2026 \u2013 updated Draft Insiders\u2019 NFL Draft Prospects Declaration Day \u2013 January 23rd QB Fernando Mendoza Makes it Official OT Francis <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/declared-underclassmen-for-nfl-draft-qb-fernando-mendoza-makes-it-official\/\" title=\"Declared Underclassmen for NFL Draft QB Fernando Mendoza Makes it Official\">  [read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,22],"tags":[32],"class_list":{"0":"post-6819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-leader-in-nfl-draft-and-college-scouting","8":"category-nfl-draft-prospects","9":"tag-draft-insider-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6819"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6824,"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819\/revisions\/6824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draftinsiders.com\/DraftInsiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}