Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza is getting more air time after winning the 2025 national championship. According to Mike Schumann of The Daily Hoosier, Mendoza will guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The episode will air on Jan. 22 at 11:35 p.m. ET.
Mendoza will be the first professional athlete on the Tonight Show in 2026. He’s the first athlete to appear on the show since Carmelo Anthony on Dec. 18, 2025. He will be alongside comedian Anthony Anderson, artist Louis Tomlinson of One Direction and 14-year-old actress Nell Fisher.
This interview goes to show how much Mendoza’s personality has captivated America. Mendoza’s a great football player; he just won the Heisman trophy, just led the Indiana Hoosiers to unimaginable success and a national title, and is projected to be the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
However, his personality makes him a national treasure. He’s known for always approaching interviews with great enthusiasm after games, usually giving the other team compliments, taking time to thank his family and God, and hyping up his teammates. Some people have compared him to Andrew Luck and Kirk Cousins due to his kind on-the-field personality.
This is a good way to test Mendoza’s marketability and presence outside of the football field. There will be times like the NFL Combine where teams will be able to get a look at his arm, his speed and his mechanics, but the Tonight Show will test his soft skills away from football.
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It’s crazy to think how much Mendoza has grown since the start of his college career. Before he transferred to Indiana in 2025, he started two years with the California Golden bears, where he threw a combined 30 touchdowns to 16 interceptions over two years. Now, he’s projected to go first overall to the Las Vegas Raiders and is already earning the perks of being a star athlete.
