ATLANTA — A former Atlanta Falcons staff member played an instrumental role in developing Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza this season.
He is now celebrating the Indiana Hoosiers’ historic, undefeated season and national championship win.
“To predict a Heisman Trophy, National Championship, Big Ten Championship, everything, sweeping every award, I’d be lying if I said I could have predicted that,” Chandler Whitmer told Channel 2’s Alison Mastrangelo.
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Whitmer finished his first season as Indiana’s quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator. It’s definitely one he will always remember.
On Monday night, the top-ranked Hoosiers defeated the No. 10 seed Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship, the first football title in school history.
“Now I can kind of step back and really enjoy it. I mean, we were locked in every single week, just trying to stay focused, but now to be able to step back and enjoy, it’s pretty cool for a second," he said.
Whitmer used to work for the Falcons as a pass game specialist, working closely with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. He left the Falcons to join Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti’s staff as the quarterbacks coach.
His first season turned into a magical one working alongside eventual Heisman Winner, Fernando Mendoza.
Mendoza, who grew up just a few miles away from Miami campus, scored what would become the game-winning touchdown in Indiana’s 27-21 win. Whitmer said Mendoza is a special talent who challenged him every day to be the best coach possible.
“You could tell in the way that he processes, his brain is elite. So, you know, anything that I install or tell them, like he can not only regurgitate it, but then go execute it on the field. And that’s just a unique trait."
Whitmer said Mendoza’s “clutch gene” also impressed him throughout the season.
“Anytime we need it the most, I call it competitive greatness. He’s shown it and, it’s shown up time and time again,” he told Mastrangelo. “And obviously the national championship fourth down, he puts his body on the line. They’ll hang that picture somewhere, probably make a statue here in Bloomington of it, but a pretty awesome moment."
Like most coaches, Whitmer doesn’t like to talk about himself. But Mastrangelo asked what else he would like to achieve during his coaching career.
“The ultimate goal is to call plays at the highest level. You know, I’d like to do that. And so you got to start somewhere, but at the end of the day, I always try and just do the best job I can with the job that I have,” And I think that served me pretty well to this point,“ Whitmer said.
“And if I can stay in the present moment and continue to do a good job with what I have, then I think everything else takes care of itself."
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