Georgia’s Transfer Portal miss altered college football history forever

This past weekend Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza was crowned the winner of the 2025 Heisman Trophy. He is the first Heisman winner in the history of Indiana football, so this moment will be remembered for a very long time as Indiana’s meteoric rise came out of nowhere.

Georgia and Kirby Smart however nearly put an end to Indiana’s historic season before it even started.

Mendoza transferred to Indiana this past offseason, but he took a long look at Georgia throughout his portal recruitment. In fact, there were some who believed Georgia was going to land him after he visited Athens.

“[Mendoza’s] visit to Athens was all you could hope for and multiple sources felt Georgia could land him. He even watched that Indiana blowout while in town.”

Mendoza ultimately chose Indiana over Georgia and that certainly is a choice he is not regretting. And while most schools probably regret missing on him, Georgia is in a place with Gunner Stockton that they are more than happy with.

Gunner Stockton eliminates the regret of missing on Fernando Mendoza

This college football season would’ve gone very differently had Mendoza chose Georgia over Indiana. For starters, the Hoosiers would not have had the season that they did. They still would’ve been a solid team this year, but they would not have gone 13-0 and earned the No. 1 seed in the playoff.

Georgia’s season also could’ve gone very differently as well. There is a chance that Mendoza would’ve come to Georgia and beat Stockton for the starting job, but there’s also a chance Stockton would’ve still won the job. So Georgia’s season could’ve been very different with Mendoza, but Stockton still could’ve been the starter for Georgia this year as well.

Regardless, Georgia does not regret missing on Mendoza and having Stockton be their starting quarterback. Sure it would’ve been nice to have a Heisman winning quarterback, but there’s no guarantee Mendoza would’ve been that good with Georgia in the SEC. Stockton however had a magnificent season that saw him finish seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting, and since he led Georgia to another SEC title there is no chance UGA would roll the dice and have someone new play in his place.