LAS VEGAS — There were no curveballs or surprises once the Las Vegas Raiders were officially put on the clock to start the NFL draft on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

General manager John Spytek decided to play it straight as the worst-kept secret in sports over the last few months was made official with the selection of Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the top pick.

This is the 22nd time in the last 33 years the top pick of the draft was a quarterback.

It’s just the second time the Raiders have selected first in the draft and the first since they picked quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007.

Spytek had said throughout the process he was keeping an open mind and listening to any potential offers for teams looking to wow the Raiders with an offer for the pick, but there was no doubt about the name that would be on the card once the Raiders decided to turn in the card.

Mendoza is coming off a historic college football season, leading perennial laughingstock Indiana to an undefeated record and a national championship in a season that earned him the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s best player.

He emerged as the clear No. 1 pick in the draft, especially after several of the other top quarterback prospects opted to go back to school.

The Raiders locked in on him shortly after they completed a 3-14 season that earned them the top selection and prompted a fresh start that included replacing coach Pete Carroll with Klint Kubiak.

Spytek led a contingent of the organization’s top decision-makers, including minority owner Tom Brady, to the national championship game in Mendoza’s hometown of Miami to watch him lead the Hoosiers past the Miami Hurricanes.

The Raiders met with Mendoza at the combine and then brought him into the facility for an official visit where he was able to meet with Brady and veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins, a likely mentor for the rookie.

Throughout the process, the prevailing wisdom was that Mendoza would be a Raider. While neither he nor the team would publicly confirm it, all indications pointed in that direction.

“It was fantastic,” Mendoza said this week of meeting Brady at the team facility. “He gave me the message that he’s going to push me, and he’s not going to be all lovey-dovey. And that if the Raiders draft me, he’s going to be a mentor and wants to pour into whatever quarterback the Raiders have — whether it’s me, whether they draft somebody else.”

It’s no longer a hypothetical.

Mendoza is officially part of the organization and will now shift his attention from the draft process to preparing himself to play in the NFL.

That could involve a quarterback competition with Cousins, particularly because Spytek and Kubiak have been vocal about their desire to ease Mendoza’s transition to the league by allowing him to watch a veteran run the offense.

Mendoza said earlier this week he looks at the addition of Cousins as a healthy situation.

“If I’m lucky enough to go to the Raiders, I think it’ll be a great opportunity to learn from someone who has had so much success over the years, and who I think has a very similar playing style as me,” said Mendoza, who studied Cousins film with the Minnesota Vikings while he was at Cal before transferring to Indiana.

His development is absolutely vital to the hopes of a franchise looking to turn their fortunes after years of mediocrity or worse. The Raiders have made the playoffs just twice in the last 23 years and have not won a postseason game since the 2003 AFC championship game.

Mendoza’s success or failure will largely determine whether that run of futility continues or becomes a thing of the past.

He welcomes the challenge.

While Mendoza has spent the last several months preparing himself for the draft and working on some of the skills that will be asked of him in the NFL that weren’t part of his college system, his focus has never wavered from the main goal of getting ready for his rookie season.

“My goal is to be the best quarterback come September,” Mendoza said. “So Day 1, I’ll be comfortable under center, staying in cadence and calling a play in the huddle.

“I want to try to eliminate some of those learning curves that might take a week or so for other rookie quarterbacks so I can be best fitted to the system I’m in.”

Mendoza stayed home in Miami to experience the draft with his family and will now board a plane for Las Vegas and be formally introduced on Friday.

Mendoza is the 10th quarterback the Raiders have selected since 2000, but just the second in the first round.

He is the fourth player the Raiders have selected from Indiana in the common draft era, which dates back to 1967.

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