Fernando Mendoza responded to a question Saturday about whether he will visit President Donald Trump at the White House to celebrate the Indiana Hoosiers’ historic college football championship.
Mendoza said that he “believed” the scheduled date of the visit, May 11, was the first day of the Las Vegas Raiders’ organized team activities (OTAs). But he was incorrect, as the Raiders’ OTAs don’t start until May 18.
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“If it is on the first day of OTAs, like I said, I’m on the bottom of the totem pole here, I got to prove myself, I can’t miss practice,” Mendoza told reporters at a Raiders press conference on Saturday. “As a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look. I want to try to best serve my teammates, and I don’t think that would be accomplishing that goal.”
The Raiders don’t have anything in their offseason program scheduled for May 11.
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Mendoza led Indiana to the college football championship and the first 16-0 season in the modern history of the sport. The team announced it was visiting the White House to celebrate the accomplishment on Friday.
Mendoza became one of the biggest names in the sport during his heroics for Indiana last season, en route to the Heisman Trophy. He was the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.
The other college football champions who went on to be the No. 1 overall picks, Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow, each visited Trump at the White House in the president’s first term. Lawrence visited in 2019 and Burrow went in 2020.
Now, all eyes turn to Mendoza, who etched his name in college football history and the hearts of many football fans, to see if he will make the trip once realizing that OTAs are not on the same day as the visit.
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