Fernando Mendoza strikes a pose in men’s mag. Check out his spread
Fernando Mendoza cleans up nice.
The football megastar traded his jersey and shoulder pads for a fancy suit and trench coat in the latest issue of Esquire.
Appearing on the cover looking more like a suave supermodel than a rugged quarterback, Mendoza also appeared on the inside pages in an accompanying article covering his fast ascent.
There he is rocking a sweater by Ferragamo while taking a sip at a water fountain. Another pic sees him sitting in a locker room in a shirt and tie by Celine, shoes by Christian Louboutin, watch by Cartier.
“Yeah, he won the Heisman Trophy, and a college national championship, and earned his spot as the consensus No. 1 pick in the NFL draft,” the story begins. “His life is going to get a lot harder when he lands in the league. Good thing he’s got a plan.”
About that. Short term: Mendoza will not be in Pittsburgh for the April 23 draft, but back home in Miami, celebrating with family and friends. We love that for him — and us.
So how is the 22-year-old Christopher Columbus High School grad preparing for the long term, aka the national spotlight that will be soon even brighter than it is now?
The six-foot-five Indiana Hoosier’s laser focus remains on perfecting his footwork skills, he told the mag. There’s also the matter of staying fit and healthy with a clean diet and “no fried foods, no dessert.”
Above all, having a strong sense of faith powers the spiritual athlete through almost everything in life on and off the field. He recalls how religion got him through one of the most traumatizing aspects of his childhood, his mother’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis when he was just 12.
“It’s tough, and you can get mad. I was like, why?” he recalled. “Having that rock-solid faith has helped me stay rock-solid.... It’s freeing in that aspect.”
