Wild recruitments, numerous transfers among Heisman finalists

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Ohio State QB Julian Sayin, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love are headed to New York City for the Heisman Trophy presentation.

Here’s a look at all four players through the recruiting process:

Fernando Mendoza – Indiana

An industry three-star quarterback, Mendoza was originally committed to Yale but got a late offer from Cal and took it. The Miami (Fla.) Columbus prospect didn’t have an exceptional senior year of high school, either, throwing for just about 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns.

He redshirted in Berkeley in 2022 and was the backup for the first half of the 2023 season until getting his first opportunity in Week 6 against Oregon State and never looking back.

After throwing for 3,000 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2024, Mendoza hit the transfer portal and has starred at Indiana this season leading the Hoosiers to an undefeated regular season and then beating Ohio State in the Big 10 championship.

If Justyn Martin from Inglewood, Calif., did not de-commit from the Golden Bears in late September, one wonders if Mendoza would have ever been offered by Cal at all – and whether Yale would have had a Heisman frontrunner on its hands.

Julian Sayin – Ohio State

Rated as the second-best quarterback behind only Florida’s DJ Lagway as a five-star prospect, Sayin committed to Alabama over Georgia and LSU as Michigan, Notre Dame and others were involved earlier but the Carlsbad, Calif., standout shied away from playing in the cold weather.

Playing for coach Nick Saban – and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien – were huge draws for Sayin to pick the Crimson Tide but a few short weeks after arriving in Tuscaloosa, Saban retired and O’Brien left for Boston College.

Then-Washington coach Kalen DeBoer got the Alabama job and according to the book The Price: What it Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos, the new Crimson Tide coach made Sayin wait to meet him and then acted like he didn’t know who he was during the short meeting.

The former five-star transferred to Ohio State, sat behind Will Howard last season as the Buckeyes won the national championship and then Sayin won the starting job leading Ohio State to the No. 2 overall ranking in the College Football Playoff.

So far this season, Sayin has thrown for 3,323 yards with 31 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Diego Pavia – Vanderbilt

A three-star junior college prospect at New Mexico Military Institute, Pavia then transferred to New Mexico State where in 2023 he led the Aggies to a shocking 31-10 win at Auburn and emerged as one of the hottest quarterbacks in the transfer portal after that season.

After two seasons at New Mexico State, Pavia has now spent two seasons at Vanderbilt and the Commodores at 10-2 have their first double-digit winning season in program history dating back to 1902.

Pavia in many ways has taken the college football world by storm over the last two years and he also had at least a part – either by publicly talking about him or showing what Vanderbilt football is capable of – of landing five-star quarterback Jared Curtis, who flipped from Georgia around National Signing Day.

He’s thrown for 2,924 yards with 26 touchdowns and six picks this season and also leads the Commodores with 661 rushing yards and eight TDs.

Jeremiyah Love – Notre Dame

Ranked as the fifth-best running back in the 2023 class, Love chose Notre Dame over Alabama, Michigan, Texas A&M, Oregon and others midway through his senior season.

At the time of his pledge, the Irish also had running back pledges from Dylan Edwards, who has had a wild recruitment and college career of changing schools, along with Jayden Limar.

The Christian Brothers standout was the second St. Louis standout who was in that Notre Dame class along with four-star DB Christian Gray who played at De Smet.

Love has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons and would be the first running back to win the Heisman Trophy since Derrick Henry in 2015. The former four-star has rushed for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns this season and those will be his final stats since the Irish turned down a bowl game bid.