Who is Josh Hoover? Meet Indiana's new QB1 replacing Fernando Mendoza

Transfer portal quarterbacks are hot commodities in college football. If you land the right one, it could help your school win its first-ever national championship, a la Fernando Mendoza at Indiana. 

In Bloomington, head coach Curt Cignetti is hoping that lightning can strike twice this season, as the third-year coach turns to portal quarterback Josh Hoover to lead the Hoosiers. Hoover comes to Indiana after spending the last three seasons at TCU. 

Let's take at Hoover's career history, and what he is bringing to Indiana at quarterback.

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Who is Josh Hoover? 

Hoover played high school football in Rockwall, Texas, which sits just outside of Dallas. Across three seasons tracked by MaxPreps, he threw for 9,750 yards with 108 touchdowns and just 29 interceptions.

Per the 247Sports Composite, he was rated as a three-star signal-caller, checking in as the No. 41 overall quarterback in the 2022 class. He held offers from the likes of Arkansas, TCU, Houston, SMU, UTSA, Tulane and several others.

He was also offered by Indiana and actually committed to the Hoosiers in 2021, when Indiana was still coached by Tom Allen.

Hoover ultimately ended up signing with TCU and spent three seasons with the Horned Frogs.

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Josh Hoover at TCU

Hoover took a redshirt with the Horned Frogs in 2022, and as a redshirt freshman in 2023, he appeared in 10 games with six starts. Although he started the season as a backup to starting quarterback Chandler Morris, he started in the last six games of the season after Morris re-injured his MCL. 

In his 10 games, he threw for 2,237 yards with 15 touchdowns and just one interception. Morris transferred to North Texas before the 2024 season, putting Hoover in the driver's seat to start in 2024. 

That year, he threw for 3,949 yards with 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The Horned Frogs finished 9-4 on the season, capped off with a New Mexico Bowl over Louisiana. He reportedly received a lucrative offer from Tennessee to play for the Vols in 2025, but remained in Fort Worth. 

Last season for the Horned Frogs, he had another big season, throwing for 3,472 yards with 29 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.   

Why did Josh Hoover transfer to Indiana? 

Hoover entered the transfer portal on Dec. 18, and landed at Indiana on Jan. 4. He has an NIL Valuation of $4 million, per On3Sports. 

The quarterback can only hope that his transition to Indiana can be similar to Mendoza's, who transferred to Indiana after starting his career at Cal. While Cignetti recognizes that fans will point out the similarities, he reminded reporters last month that even Mendoza wasn't a super star from the start. 

“I think what you gotta do is if you wanna make a comparison, you gotta kinda look at where we were last year at this time,” Cignetti said on Aug. 30 via the Indy Star. “We walked off the field the second scrimmage and really weren't good at all throwing the football. And we weren't feeling very good about things.”

Speaking of Mendoza, Fernando's younger brother, Alberto was also at Indiana last season. But shortly after Hoover transferred to Bloomington, the younger Mendoza hit the portal himself. He signed with Georgia Tech, where he has been named the Yellow Jackets's 2026 starter.

If there's one stat that Hoover can improve on at Indiana, it's taking care of the football. He threw 33 interceptions across his three seasons, and had 14 fumbles with nine lost. 

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Josh Hoover stats

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