Fernando Mendoza gets his UC Berkeley diploma in graduation ceremony surprise

Fernando Mendoza’s journey as a Cal Bear is officially complete.

The lightly recruited quarterback-turned-No. 1 overall draft pick walked at the Haas School of Business graduation ceremony on Saturday at the Greek Theater, more than a year after announcing his transfer from Cal to Indiana and exactly a month after he was drafted first overall by the Raiders.

“I hope you don’t mind that I invited this person to our MBA commencement. He actually had a really good excuse for missing commencement,” Haas dean Jenny Chatman said in revealing the surprise. “He used his hot skills and coursework to negotiate an excellent job and an excellent comp package, but he wasn’t able to change his start date when he needed to report to his new job. Can you please help me in welcoming Las Vegas Raider, Heisman Trophy winner, Haas graduate and Cal Bear forever, Fernando Mendoza.”

Mendoza finished his coursework at Berkeley in three years before transferring to Indiana last year, leading the Hoosiers to an undefeated regular season, the Big Ten title and the national championship in South Florida against his hometown school, Miami.

Chatman wasn’t laying it on thick when she said Mendoza had a good excuse for missing undergraduate commencement: The Raiders had offseason workouts this week, including on Wednesday when the undergrads walked at the Greek.

Mendoza has been busy with the Raiders since being drafted, including missing Indiana’s visit earlier this month to the White House to be honored for the national championship run, though President Donald Trump said Mendoza called him about missing the visit. (Mendoza has not said whether he called Trump.)

The 22-year-old quarterback amassed 4,712 passing yards in 20 games over two seasons at Cal, with 30 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. After helping the Bears win three straight games to finish the 2023 regular season and reach bowl eligibility as a redshirt freshman, his most memorable moment at Cal came a year later. Mendoza led the Bears back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat rival Stanford at Memorial Stadium in what ended up being his final game for Cal.

“That was an amazing comeback!” Mendoza said in an emotional postgame interview on ACC Network. “… I love my boys. It’s amazing. I’m so proud of everybody on my team. We’re 6-6, we’re bowl-bound and we retained the Axe. Go Bears forever!”

His Heisman-winning season at Indiana helped complete the Hoosiers’ turn from Big Ten afterthoughts to national champions: Over 16 games including the College Football Playoff, Mendoza had 41 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He studied business administration in his year in Bloomington, Indiana.

Now, with his Cal degree in hand, he’s ready to start his postgraduate career. Mendoza has not yet signed his rookie contract, but he is expected to make $54.6 million over the next four years on a fully guaranteed deal as the first overall pick in the draft.

The Raiders, who signed veteran Kirk Cousins last month to compete with Mendoza for the starting job, open their regular season at home against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 13.