Fernando Mendoza says Raiders OTAs may keep him from White House visit
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Fernando Mendoza responded to a question about whether he would visit President Donald Trump at the White House to celebrate the Indiana Hoosiers’ historic college football championship on Saturday.
Mendoza said he “believes” the scheduled date of the visit, May 11, is the Las Vegas Raiders’ first day of organized team activities (OTAs). But he was wrong, as the Raiders’ OTAs did not begin until May 18.
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Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, selected by the Las Vegas Raiders as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, attends a press conference at Raiders Headquarters in Henderson, Nev., 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’ve got to prove myself, I can’t miss practice,” Mendoza told reporters at the Raiders press conference on Saturday. “As a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look. I want to try to best serve my teammates and I don’t think this will achieve that goal.”
The Raiders have nothing on their offseason schedule scheduled for May 11.
INDIANA’S FERNANDO MENDOZA WON THE 2025 HEISMAN Trophy
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza watches during warm-ups before the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium on January 19, 2026 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Sam Navarro/Imagn Images)
Mendoza led Indiana to a college football championship and the first 16-0 season in modern sports history. The team announced Friday it would visit the White House to celebrate the achievement.
Mendoza became one of the biggest names in the sport during his heroics for Indiana last season en route to the Heisman Trophy. He was the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.
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President Donald Trump hosts NCAA collegiate national champions at the White House in this April 2026 photo. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fellow No. 1 overall college football champions Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow visited Trump at the White House during the president’s first term. Lawrence visited in 2019 and Burrow went in 2020.
All eyes are now on Mendoza, who has written his name in college football history and is engraved in the hearts of many football fans, to see if he will make this trip when he realizes that OTAs are not on the same day as the visit.
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