Big Ten Tabs Mendoza as Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana football quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been selected as the 2025-26 Big Ten Conference Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year, announced the conference office on Wednesday (July 8). Mendoza is the sixth Indiana student-athlete to earn the Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year honor and the first since track and field student-athlete Derek Drouin in 2013. This is the second such honor for the Hoosiers’ football program, as Mendoza joins Anthony Thompson , who won the award in 1990. Mendoza is the eighth football student-athlete to claim the honor, joining Iowa’s Chuck Long…