How Oregon's Dante Moore, Indiana's Fernando Mendoza became unlikely NFL darlings

NEARLY TWO YEARS ago, connected a Saturday nighttime successful Pasadena with small to play for betwixt a 7-4 UCLA squad and a 5-6 Cal team, Dante Moore and Fernando Mendoza faced disconnected astatine the Rose Bowl successful the past regular-season crippled of the year.

Moore was capping disconnected a roller-coaster freshman play with the Bruins during which helium went from having the starting job, to losing it and past having it again. It was his sixth commencement of the year. Mendoza, meanwhile, had started his ain freshman run arsenic the third-string backmost earlier taking clasp of the gig for the Golden Bears implicit the past 7 games of the season.

Though their journeys to that constituent had been acold from similar, some quarterbacks had been thrown close into the cauldron arsenic freshmen and asked to physique acquisition connected the alert portion helping their teams triumph games. This game, which Cal won 33-7 and saw some Mendoza and Moore propulsion 2 interceptions each, was a reminder that they were acold from finished products.

Two seasons later, they are acceptable to look disconnected again -- this clip with Mendoza starring Indiana and Moore starring Oregon to undefeated records, top-10 rankings and a wide way toward the College Football Playoff. In the process, some person besides go NFL draught darlings, unexpected risers wrong a backmost draught people that has truthful acold looked disjointed astatine best.

"That's wherefore Mendoza, to me, has gained the astir steam," 1 NFL unit enforcement said.

Meanwhile different NFL enforcement said helium has Moore, not Mendoza, ranked wrong the apical 3 of his backmost rankings.

An under-the-radar three-star and a seemingly forgotten five-star, Mendoza and Moore person some shown flashes of high-level traits that could marque them not conscionable tantalizing NFL prospects successful the future, but besides the cleanable players to pb their teams successful this precise moment.

"I deliberation we got the champion backmost successful assemblage football," Oregon manager Dan Lanning declared aft the Ducks' triumph astatine Penn State.

"Mendoza is different 1 of those guys who I judge is going to play connected Sunday," Indiana antiaircraft coordinator Aaron Henry said earlier this year. "He makes immoderate throws, you're like, 'My goodness.' ... I deliberation his downfield vision, his progressions that helium makes erstwhile he's successful a pouch is perfectly incredible."

THERE WERE TOO galore signs pointing successful 1 absorption for Mendoza. He had already graduated astatine Cal and was acceptable to participate his 3rd play nether a 4th antithetic violative coordinator, 1 who helium said helium didn't consciousness similar rather aligned with his priorities.

"I wanted to beryllium successful a strategy that I deliberation would construe truly good to the adjacent level," Mendoza told ESPN successful an interrogation earlier the season.

The NFL had been a puerility dream, of course, but not 1 helium ever thought was existent until the chatter began this past offseason. During his precocious schoolhouse recruiting process, Mendoza, who's from Miami, received offers from lone Cal, FIU, Yale and Penn.

"It each benignant of conscionable went from, 'Hey I privation to spell DI' to 'I privation to commencement a game.' 'I privation to triumph a game' to 'I privation to go a full-time starter,'" Mendoza said. "It benignant of conscionable snowballed and past earlier this year, talking to immoderate people, speechmaking immoderate things like, 'Wow is this really true? Can this beryllium possible?'"

Mendoza's betterment has been mostly linear, but the breakout happened past play erstwhile helium threw for 3,004 yards connected a 68.7% completion complaint to spell on with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. Through 5 games this year, Mendoza has thrown for 1,208 yards connected a 73% contention complaint (top 10 successful the country) portion already matching his 16 touchdowns from past play with lone 1 interception.

"I conscionable look backmost astatine immoderate of my cl...