Indiana football may be in the market for a quarterback this coming offseason.
The Hoosiers have enjoyed great success at the position through two seasons under head coach Curt Cignetti, with Kurtis Rourke
guiding the offense to a 11-2 finish in 2024 and Fernando Mendoza winning the 2025 Heisman Trophy on top of the Big Ten Championship.
There’s options at the position heading into 2026 with Alberto Mendoza waiting in the wings, Tyler Cherry’s return from injury and potential additions through the transfer portal. We’ll be going through several candidates that Indiana could look at.
Indiana football transfer targets: Quarterback
- Josh Hoover, TCU
- Dylan Raiola, Nebraska
- Beau Pribula, Missouri
- Drew Mestemaker, North Texas
Drew Mestemaker, North Texas
Drew Mestemaker went completely overlooked in the 2024 high school recruiting class.
North Texas head coach Eric Morris signed Mestemaker, who played at Austin Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas. Mestemaker redshirted for the Mean Green in 2024 before starting in 2025. He emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the country with the following statline:
- 2025: 4,129 passing yards, 31 passing touchdowns, 7 interceptions. Completed 70.2% of his passes.
The Mean Green went 11-1 in the regular season with Mestemaker leading the offense before losing to Tulane in the American Conference Championship Game.
Obviously Mestemaker competed in a lower league, but so did Rourke before him. The production speaks for itself, and Indiana has emphasized production over pure talent in recruiting. There’s plenty of reason to believe he’d be productive at a higher level.
The concerns with Mestemaker are his inexperience and the likely draw of heading to join Morris, who was hired at Oklahoma State. It was Morris’ staff that found and developed him, so understandable loyalty may draw him to Stillwater.
