NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Fernando Mendoza responded Saturday to a question about whether he will visit President Donald Trump at the White House to celebrate the Indiana Hoosiers’ historic college football championship.
Mendoza said he “believed” the scheduled date of the visit, May 11, was the first day of Las Vegas Raiders organized team activities (OTA). But he was wrong, as the Raiders’ OTAs don’t start until May 18.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, selected with the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft by the Las Vegas Raiders, attends a news conference at Raiders headquarters in Henderson, Nevada, on April 24, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“If it’s the first day of OTAs, like I said, I’m at the bottom of the totem pole here, I have to prove myself, I can’t miss practice,” Mendoza told reporters at a Raiders press conference on Saturday. “As a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look. I want to try to serve my teammates better, and I don’t think that’s achieving that goal.”
The Raiders have nothing in their offseason program scheduled for May 11.
INDIANA’S FERNANDO MENDOZA WINS 2025 HEISMAN TROPHY
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza watches during warmups before the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on January 19, 2026. (Sam Navarro/Image Images)
Mendoza led Indiana to the college football championship and the first 16-0 season in modern sports history. The team announced it would visit the White House to celebrate the achievement on Friday.
Mendoza became one of the biggest names in sports during his heroics with Indiana last season en route to the Heisman Trophy. He was the number one overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pak Gazette APP
President Donald Trump hosts the NCAA college national champions at the White House in this April 2026 photo. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The other college football champions who went on to be No. 1 overall picks, Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow, visited Trump at the White House during the president’s first term. Lawrence visited in 2019 and Burrow in 2020.
Now, all eyes turn to Mendoza, who etched his name in college football history and the hearts of many football fans, to see if he will make the trip once he realizes that OTAs are not the same day as the visit.
