Fernando Mendoza; he graduated from Mario’s high school (Columbus). His mother is a Miami grad (bachelor’s and master’s). Apparently, he wanted to go to Miami but they didn’t recruit him as he was only rated a 3 star. Miami never offered him a scholarship, just a chance to walk on.
The only QB Miami took in the 2022 class was Jacurri Brown. TVD was the starter at the time and Jake Garcia was the backup. Mendoza received only a few offers and ended up at Berkeley.
Gattis was the OC in 2022 but Lashlee was around in 2021 so he is probably the one who passed on Menodoza. A huge miss.
To be honest everyone missed on. He went to cal….so basically 95 percent of the rest of the country missed on him as well. I liked the kid out of hs and always feel you should take two qbs in one class.
Apparently, Miami whiffed on Mendoza’s younger brother, too.
Both were at Columbus, right there, awaiting a Miami offer.
Meanwhile, Miami takes a bunch of QB’s that will never see the field and transfer out to go to a small school where they have a chance to actually play.
Kaaya was a good college QB, could not run at all though. Van Dyke was great but he was okay.
Miami recruited a lot of QB’s in recent years that totally washed out. Our OC’s have been lousy judges of talent.
In 2025, a QB has to be able to run to keep the defenses honest. Running QB’s create a lot of opportunities assuming they can throw accurately as well.
I’m surprised Miami pursued Beck (and paid him $4M) given that he is a horrible runner and prone to throwing picks but he we are. Most UGA fans were happy to see him go which says a lot.
Brad was ok. Didn’t really pan out and not an NFL guy.
Agreed, we have whiffed BIG TIME over the years. I’m interested in seeing how Luke does and this other kid we have for next year.
Beck was the best that we can do even though he wasn’t our first choice. If he can just settle down and stop trying so hard he can be really good. Brady couldn’t run either and well…but the Patriots schemed around him. So did the Bucs.