Brent Key reveals Indiana transfer Alberto Mendoza will 'most likely' start at QB for Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key expects former Indiana transfer Alberto Mendoza will “most likely” be the Yellow Jackets’ starting quarterback to open the 2026 college football season. He told the decision to On3 this week.

“It’s no secret we’re going to have a quarterback start the first game that’s never started a college football game, whoever it is,” Key told On3’s Andy Staples during Friday’s Andy & Ari podcast. “It most likely will be Alberto (Mendoza). But that’s not different than a lot of teams (across) the country.”

Mendoza is the younger brother of 2025 Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders. The former Indiana quarterback capped a magical 2025 season, his first and only with the Hoosiers, by securing the program’s first-ever national title in football with a 27-21 win over Miami in the 2026 College Football Playoff national championship.

The elder Mendoza finished the 2025 season with 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns on 72% passing to go along with seven more rushing scores. None were bigger than his game-winning 12-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter of the CFP national title game.

The younger Mendoza enters the 2026 season as a redshirt sophomore after spending the past two seasons at Indiana, where he backed up his older brother in 2025. Alberto Mendoza saw action in nine games last season, all off the bench, where he completed 18-of-24 passes for 286 yards and five touchdowns to one interception. He also added 190 rushing yards and one touchdown on the ground.

At Georgia Tech, Alberto Mendoza will “most likely” succeed Haynes King as the Yellow Jackets’ starting quarterback. King, who signed with the Carolina Panthers after going undrafted last month, was a hard-nosed, versatile playmaker at QB with the ability to make plays with both his arm and legs. King combined for more than 10,000 total yards and 91 combined touchdowns across three years in Atlanta.

Mendoza was among the crown jewels of Georgia Tech’s 2026 transfer class, which ranked No. 53 nationally according to the On3 Transfer Portal Team Rankings. He joined a portal haul that also included former Alabama defenders Noah Carter (EDGE) and Jaylen Mbakwe (CB/WR), as well as former Alabama and Michigan running back Justice Haynes, the son of former Georgia and NFL fullback Verron Haynes.

Mendoza signed with Indiana as a three-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle out of Columbus (Miami, Fla.) High, where he was ranked as the No. 82 quarterback in the class and No. 1,441 player overall, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted composite of all three major media recruiting services.