Curt Cignetti built back-to-back College Football Playoff teams with transfer quarterbacks who had something to prove. Now, hours after the top-seeded Hoosiers took down Alabama in the Rose Bowl, the portal opens again, and Indiana needs to do it one more time.
Kurtis Rourke rewrote the program’s offensive record book in 2024. Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy this season and led Indiana to the Big Ten championship. Both arrived as transfers with questions about their abilities. Both left as program legends, headed to the NFL. The formula worked twice. Can Cignetti make it work a third time?
Indiana’s Quarterback Factory Status
The numbers tell the story Cignetti wants every portal quarterback to see. Rourke completed 69.4% of his passes for 3,042 yards and 29 touchdowns in his lone season. His efficiency led him to second-team All-Big Ten honors and a top-10 Heisman finish.
Mendoza took it further. The Cal transfer threw for 2,980 yards with 33 touchdowns this season while becoming the first Heisman winner in Indiana history. Both quarterbacks posted career highs in completion percentage, touchdowns, and passer rating in Bloomington.
That track record makes Indiana one of the premier quarterback destinations in the portal. Schools can promise playing time or money. Indiana promises development that gets quarterbacks drafted.
MORE: PFSN’s CFB Transfer Portal Tracker
The portal opens January 2, giving Cignetti just 15 days to land his next starter while preparing for a College Football Playoff semifinal. The new NCAA rules eliminated the spring portal window and compressed everything into one chaotic window during the playoffs.
Cignetti called the timing a “juggling act” earlier this season. He’s not wrong. Indiana has dozens of players in their final season of eligibility and multiple NFL-bound prospects besides Mendoza. The roster needs reloading, not rebuilding.
The Josh Hoover Connection
The most intriguing name linked to Indiana is TCU’s Josh Hoover, not just because he’s the most accomplished quarterback in the portal with 9,629 career passing yards and 71 touchdowns. And not just because he projects as the top returning passer in college football for 2026.
Hoover originally committed to Indiana out of high school before flipping to TCU. That was a different era of Indiana football, back when the Hoosiers went 9-27 in three seasons under Tom Allen. But it suggests some familiarity with Bloomington and the program.
Hoover thrived in Kendal Briles’ up-tempo system at TCU, throwing for over 3,400 yards in each of the past two seasons. His ability to make every throw and deliver the ball on time would translate seamlessly to Indiana’s scheme, which is modeled after the Mike Shanahan offense.
Reports suggest Hoover will command between $2 million and $3 million in NIL compensation. That’s steep, but Indiana has shown it’s willing to invest in the portal. The Hoosiers brought in multiple All-Big Ten players and honorable mentions through the transfer window ahead of the 2024 season. They added 24 transfers for 2025, including Mendoza.
Money matters, but development matters more. Hoover is already considered a draftable prospect. One more season under Shanahan and Whitmer could push him from the back of Day 3 into the Day 2 conversation.
MORE: PFSN’s 2026 QB Transfer Portal Rankings
Indiana also has Alberto Mendoza, Fernando’s younger brother, as a redshirt freshman on the roster. But Cignetti made it clear in December that the Hoosiers would pursue a portal quarterback regardless of who returns. The job won’t be handed to anyone.
Other top quarterbacks like Brendan Sorsby from Cincinnati, Sam Leavitt from Arizona State, and DJ Lagway from Florida will draw interest from programs across the Power Four. Indiana won’t be the only school willing to pay top dollar for proven production.
But Indiana offers something most programs can’t: two consecutive seasons of elite quarterback play, two CFP appearances, a Big Ten title, and a Heisman Trophy winner. Cignetti has turned Indiana into a quarterback destination in just two years.
The portal strategy isn’t sustainable forever. Eventually, programs need high school development to build depth and maintain culture. But in an era where everyone lives in the portal, Cignetti has mastered it better than almost anyone in the sport.
He did it once with Rourke. He did it again with Mendoza. The question isn’t whether Cignetti can find a third transfer quarterback. It’s whether the best quarterbacks in the portal are smart enough to see what Indiana has become.
