“Every year of my career, I’ve gotten exponentially better,” he says. “Freshman year to sophomore year, a ton better. That was a whole thing. Sophomore year, junior year: ‘Wow, you got so much better.’ And junior year to now, obviously, it’s like, boom.” Mendoza finished UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in just three years, before relocating as a graduate transfer to the Hoosiers. And the “exponential” growth he recaps isn’t overkill; he entered university as a midrange two-star recruit (Cal called after losing its already-pledged quarterback), and by the midway point of his fourth year, he’d won the Heisman Trophy, which is the sport’s highest collegiate accolade.

Even his taste in music seems to uphold a sort of sovereign actualization: Mendoza says his most played song during his uni years was “Erase Your Social” by the rapper Lil Uzi Vert. To focus on the championship, Mendoza did what the track suggested, leaving only LinkedIn and YouTube on his phone. In a sweet twist of fate, Uzi was at the game to watch him win it.

“After that, I was a little bit of an Instagram zombie for a couple of days because of all the dopamine,” Mendoza says, admitting to re-downloading the app. “Now, I delete it again. Every once in a while, I’ll check on my browser to see if I’m missing anything…or when my little brother posts, I’ll get on and comment something.”

Mendoza is a layered and resolute athlete; he’s cultivated in Stoicism, thoughtful, and self-trained in a Tom Bradyan method of regimented study, sleep, diet, training, and commitment. (Brady was Mendoza’s idol growing up; coincidentally, the now retired QB holds a 5% ownership stake in the Raiders.) On the field, Mendoza’s high IQ play results in precision pocket passes and an even-keeled nature during critical moments.

Yet away from the lights, he’s also seemingly equally methodical about what his life might look like in conference rooms and C-Suites (as of going to press, Mendoza, tongue-in-cheekily, still had a #OpenToWork badge on his LinkedIn profile). He navigated a number of NIL deals while at Indiana (reportedly worth millions), the highest-profile of which was with Adidas. Plenty more brands have come forward with sponsorship proposals, but it’s his boardroom work ethic that ultimately led him to a partnership with Boss, announced exclusively here today, on account of the label’s strong reputation in modern tailoring and officewear.

“To be honest, I want to build my business acumen,” says Mendoza. “So that’s why I agreed to it, because it’s a great brand, with the suiting they have.” He continues: “I’m usually in athleisure, but I do have this professional side to me. You want this contrast where you can be in different rooms and not stand out, but fit in—and then excel. A big part of that [on the professional side] is having a good suit.”

Mendoza’s game has been widely dissected already, but less has been revealed about his non-sporting life and personality; the interviews he’s given have been manicured and warm, but not exactly revelatory. They haven’t been off the clock. I was a little surprised—in a good way—to find him so casually dispositioned on our call, taking the Zoom from his parents’ bedroom “because it’s the only one with a real desk.” Mendoza says that while he’s calm and collected in most facets of life, he gets “very emotional” over his family–father Fernando, mother Elsa, and brothers Alberto and Max. He gives me a quick tour to prove that his room, which he shares with Alberto, does not in fact have a great setup for virtual interviews (“There’s the Heisman, pretty cool,” he says while en route, flipping the camera to the trophy, which is ensconced in a built-in.)