Incredibly, the two best players in their respective college sports — Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza and Duke power forward Cameron Boozer — played at the same high school.
“Well, wouldn’t that be something,” said Chris McKeon, the dean and athletic director at Christopher Columbus High, “to have the Heisman and the Player of the Year all from the same high school.”
Boozer and Mendoza overlapped at the Miami-based, boys-only Catholic Marist high school of about 1,800 students when Boozer was a freshman and Mendoza was a senior.
Typically, ninth graders and 12th graders want nothing to do with each other, but the two future college stars might have been an exception.
“Here it’s kind of different,” McKeon exclusively shared. “They may have interacted academically as well as athletically because they were both very, very good students and great kids.”
Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner, will play 20 minutes away from Christopher Columbus High when his No. 1-ranked Indiana team takes on Miami in the national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.
“It’s a very full-circle moment,” Mendoza said. “It means a lot to me.”
To celebrate the championship game featuring its alumni — which includes not only Mendoza, but also Miami head coach Mario Cristobal — Columbus is holding a watch party at the school’s football stadium, where students and alumni can gather and watch the game on the scoreboard.
After that championship game concludes, Mendoza, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick especially now that Dante Moore is returning to Oregon, will start preparing for the 2026 NFL Draft.
The draft picks’ salaries are slotted, and last year’s No. 1 pick, quarterback Cam Ward, signed a four-year, $48.8 million contract with a $32 million signing bonus.
Boozer, whose father starred for Duke and in the NBA, is a projected top five pick, and last year’s No. 3 overall pick, VJ Edgecombe, signed a four-year, $50.4 million contract, including $22.8 million guaranteed.
Beyond their ensuing financial success and lofty draft positioning, Mendoza and Boozer shared similar traits at Columbus. Both were driven, studious and hardworking.
Mendoza watched film relentlessly with Dave Dunn, the head coach at Columbus.
“Fernando was a very unique kid. I mean, Coach Dunn would call him a ‘nerd,’” McKeon said jokingly. “I knew that he would be very good (if) given a chance because he was going to out-prepare anyone that was going to be his competition.”
Similarly, Boozer used come to the gym at 5:30 a.m. to get extra shots up before school.
“Extremely good student and a wonderful, wonderful kid,” McKeon said, “always willing to put in time to his craft to get better.”
Alongside his twin brother Cayden, who also plays at Duke, Cameron Boozer led Columbus to a staggering four straight state titles and also a national title at the 2025 Chipotle Nationals.
Covid-19 cancelled state title games in Florida during Mendoza’s senior year, but he led his team to the highest level it could, winning the Tri County Championship.
In addition to his accomplishments on the gridiron, Mendoza was campus ministry president, school vice president and social media director for the honors program. He also was nominated for the Silver Knight Award given to a select group of students who have an outstanding academic history and an impressive community service record.
“He was able to just balance both worlds very successfully,” McKeon said.
Mendoza and Boozer are not the only stars of the sports world to get their start at Columbus.
Former New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, former Denver Broncos quarterback Brian Griese and current Orlando Magic guard (and former Boozer teammate at Columbus) Jase Richardson are just a few of the notable sports alumni.
But Boozer would be Columbus’ first Player of the Year in college basketball.
Boozer impressively leads 17-1 Duke in points (23.2), rebounds (9.9), assists (4.1) and steals (1.8) per game — highlighted by a 35-point, nine-rebound effort against Arkansas on Thanksgiving.
That’s why he is the clear front-runner for the John R. Wooden Award (the basketball equivalent of the Heisman). DraftKings has given him far away the best odds of winning at -225. BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Purdue’s Braden Smith are far behind at +220 and +1400, respectively.
McKeon and his staff have marveled over Boozer’s immediate success, chuckling at how he has dominated the competition so early in his freshman season.
“It’s kind of surreal,” he said. “Eight months ago he was doing it to 17, 18-year-old kids … Now he’s doing it to kids 22 and 23.”
