The first time Fernando Mendoza put his hands on a Heisman Trophy, he did it as a whim on a recruiting trip to Yale.

On Saturday, he’ll be on stage for the real deal.

Mendoza enters this weekend having won the Associated Press Player of the Year Award and as the the favorite to win college football’s most prestigious individual award. He would be the first winner from Indiana University and the third with Hispanic roots — titles not lost on the once lightly recruited Miami native who started contemplating this storybook ending a few months ago.

“At the beginning of the year, I saw the list of the top 10 Heisman contenders and evidently (my name) wasn’t there,” he said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I want to make a goal for myself.’ I prayed about, like, if I could make it to the ceremony, h

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