Does Fernando Mendoza speak Spanish? How Miami-born Indiana QB stays true to Hispanic heritage

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has done it all during the 2026 college football season, becoming the first-ever Hoosier to win the Heisman Trophy. Leading a 15-0 Indiana squad to the national championship game, Mendoza’s journey reached its peak in a setting that felt like destiny: his hometown of Miami, where he faced the Hurricanes in the national championship.

The Indiana signal-caller grew up less than a mile from the University of Miami campus. For the Mendoza family, however, the connection to the 305 runs deeper than geography — it is rooted in a heritage that has shaped the persona he has embraced in Bloomington.

Born to Cuban-American parents, Mendoza has often credited his bilingual upbringing for his ability to lead diverse locker rooms. During his Heisman acceptance speech, he even took a moment to address his grandparents in Spanish, a nod to the sacrifices they made after arriving from Cuba.

Here’s more on Mendoza’s bilingual background.

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Does Fernando Mendoza speak Spanish?

Mendoza is bilingual and speaks Spanish.

While he was born in the United States, he is of Cuban-American heritage. All four of his grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba, and Mendoza has frequently shared how much his roots and the Spanish language mean to him and his family.

Mendoza has stated in interviews that while he may not consider himself perfectly fluent in a technical sense, he is fully conversational. He uses Spanish to connect with his family and to serve as an inspiration for the Latino community within college football.

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Where is Fernando Mendoza from?

Mendoza is originally from Miami, Florida, but he was actually born in Boston, Massachusetts.

While his family identifies deeply with their Cuban-American roots in Miami, his parents, Elsa and Fernando Sr., were living in Boston when he was born. They moved back to Miami shortly after, where Fernando was raised.

Though, Mendoza considers himself a Miami native. He grew up in the Westchester and Coral Gables area, less than a mile from the University of Miami campus, attending Christopher Columbus High School. He won a Florida 8A State Championship there in 2019 and followed in the footsteps of his father, who was high school teammates with current Miami coach Mario Cristobal. 

This makes the upcoming National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium a true homecoming for him. He is returning to the city where he learned to play football, facing the team he grew up cheering for, just miles from the high school where he first made his name.

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Fernando Mendoza Heisman speech

In his 2025 Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, Mendoza famously switched to Spanish to address his grandparents, Alberto and Alicia Espinoza.

Fernando Mendoza spoke in Spanish for his grandparents in his Heisman winning speech ❤️ pic.twitter.com/UHaqSO92mu

"Por el amor y sacrificio de mis padres y abuelos, los quiero mucho," Mendoza said. "De todo mi corazón, de todas gracias."

In English, that's "For the love and sacrifice of my parents and grandparents, I love you so much. From all my heart, thank you."

He also spoke about his family’s history and how it taught him true leadership.

"You taught me that toughness doesn't need to be loud, it can be quiet and strong," Mendoza said. "It's choosing hope, it's believing in yourself when the world doesn't give you much reason to."

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Fernando Mendoza grandparents

All four of Fernando’s grandparents were born and raised in Cuba. His maternal grandparents, Alberto and Alicia Espinoza, emigrated from Cuba to the United States in 1959, following the Cuban Revolution, eventually settling in Miami.

Mendoza has described his grandfather, Alberto, as a "huge advocate" for their family history. In 2018, Fernando and his brother, Alberto (who is also a quarterback at Indiana), traveled back to Cuba with their grandfather to visit his hometown of Santiago. They spent the trip performing service work with local Catholic charities and reconnecting with cousins who had remained on the island, an experience Mendoza describes as "transformative."

Three of his grandparents are from Havana, Cuba, and one is from Santiago, Cuba.

"I’m extremely grateful for all the hardship that they’ve been through coming over and the whole part of being an immigrant, starting from the ground up and really laying a foundation," Mendoza said in an interview with NBC Sports' Nicole Auerbach."It really showed my brother and me how grateful we are for the opportunity that our grandparents took."

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