For years, Vanderbilt Football has been considered the “little brother” of the Southeastern Conference. Deprived of a winning season since 2013, the Commodores have just an 18.4% conference winning percentage this millennium. Head coach Clark Lea and his team have been continuously waved off and treated as a guaranteed win in the Power Four.
2024 has delivered a unique belief that those past demons don’t linger over West End anymore. This team is different; it’s a unit imbued with a developed edge and hunger to succeed. For the first time in a while, the Vanderbilt faithful have hope, and students and fans are beginning to show faces proudly. As the Commodores collect wins, national media has curiously wandered its eyes towards FirstBank Stadium.
At the heart of this Commodore renaissance is an athlete who also knows all too well what it means to be overlooked and underestimated. As an undersized quarterback, he wasn’t even given a chance at Division I Football at first. Yet, for Diego Pavia, the outside noise never derailed him from dreaming.
New Mexico’s finest
From solely high school accolades, Pavia looked the part of a Division I athlete. A three-sport athlete out of Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Pavia was a wrestling state champion and led his football team to an 11-0 record in his senior year. Surprisingly, Pavia didn’t get a single Division I offer, be it FBS or FCS.
“All I had was Division II offers,” Pavia said. ”Western New Mexico and Western Colorado were my only offers, so I went to [Junior College].”
Pavia began his college career as the third-string quarterback at New Mexico Military Institute. By the end of NMMI’s COVID-19-shortened season, Pavia earned the starting role. He never looked back, ultimately leading NMMI to a victory in the NJCAA National Championship the next season, posting 2,386 combined yards and 28 touchdowns along the way.
From there, Pavia entered the transfer portal, hoping to move up the college football ranks. Fielding offers from programs like Jackson State and St. Francis, he eventually found his next home at New Mexico State, drawn in by head coach Jerry Kill and its proximity to his hometown.
Despite the jump to Division I, Pavia was set for another uphill battle. Although he got the chance to start in Week One, Pavia played arguably the worst game of his career. He finished the game 9-for-20 for 75 yards with 3 interceptions and he was benched for Gavin Frakes.
Still, Pavia had zero doubts that he would squander another chance to prove himself.
“My first year in and out of the lineup, we were one and five, and I wasn’t playing too [well],” Pavia said. “I texted my brother though, and I said, ‘If they put me in again, it’s over with.’”
Pavia got his next real opportunity against UMass and delivered on his confident words. He entered the game late in the second quarter down 10-3 and led the Aggies to a 23-13 victory, totaling 194 passing yards and 2 passing touchdowns while adding a game-leading 56 yards on the ground. Pavia spurred New Mexico State forward and helped the team to a 6-6 finish. The Aggies snuck into the Quick Lane Bowl against Bowling Green, winning 24-19 thanks to Pavia’s MVP performance.
Pavia wasn’t satisfied with just the starting job and a bowl win. In 2023, he upstaged his previous season by unleashing one of the best quarterback seasons in New Mexico State history. The Aggies went 10-5 and Pavia — the C-USA Offensive Player of the Year — totaled 3,896 offensive yards and 33 touchdowns.
As the end of the season arrived, coach Kill officially stepped down after two years at the helm of NMSU. The Aggies also lost offensive coordinator Tim Beck when he was hired by Vanderbilt. Pavia, in a state of limbo, entered his name into the transfer portal.
Despite his impressive season in 2023, Pavia didn’t attract much attention in the portal. He took a few visits and briefly considered taking his talents to Nevada, noting that head coach Jeff Choate reminded him of Kill. Before he committed, his mother voiced her concern.
“My mom was against [me going to Nevada]. She said ‘No, call Coach Kill and ask [for advice]. Call him and ask,’” Pavia said.
Pavia took heed of his mother’s advice, calling Beck to let him know before Beck stopped him in his tracks. Beck told Kill, and Kill called Pavia that day to tell him that he’d be unretiring and shipping off to Nashville. With his offensive coordinator and head coach joining the Commodores, Pavia had little doubt about where he wanted to end up.
“It’s a blessing to have [Kill and Beck] in my corner,” Pavia said. “They know how I play. They know what I do. They know I mess up. They know I’m going to have some highs, and some lows too. But they have my back and that’s all I could ask for.”
Pavia’s commitment to Vanderbilt was amplified by both his aspirations of playing football at the highest level and his belief in Kill.
“I look at him like a father figure. He takes care of me and anything I need. He’s just… he’s different,” Pavia said. “We’re like the same person but he’s the older generation. He’ll do whatever it takes to win. Even at New Mexico State, he didn’t have a lot of funding but he made sure everyone was taken care of.”
Buying in
Arriving at Vanderbilt later than most transfers after graduating from New Mexico State, Pavia dropped into Nashville with plenty of skepticism, questions and competition around him.
The transplant of Beck and Kill raised eyebrows among college football media, as Lea embraced change and threw his initial plan of a homegrown program out the window. In addition to Pavia, two quarterbacks were brought in: former teammate Blaze Berlowitz and four-star Utah transfer Nate Johnson. From day one, Pavia was knee-deep in a quarterback competition with his last year of eligibility on the line.
“Those guys are amazing football players. [Vanderbilt] is going to be in good hands for a really long time,” Pavia said. “But, for me, it’s my last year. I have no time to waste. [Every] week has to be my best week and every day has to be my best day.”
Momentum swung back and forth through fall camp as all quarterbacks had their bright spots and accompanying struggles. In the days leading up to Vanderbilt’s season opener versus Virginia Tech, questions lingered around the starting job, as the depth chart listed either Pavia or Johnson as the starter. Even after Pavia was elected as one of the team’s five captains, Lea refused to name a Week One starter. Pavia ultimately got the chance to run the offense, and 60 minutes later, a Vanderbilt icon was born.
The Commodores — 13-point underdogs — stunned the Hokies, a presumed ACC contender and College Football Playoff dark horse, 34-27. In front of a sold-out stadium, Pavia led the charge with unfurled swagger, unbreakable confidence and the talent to back it all up.
Pavia Pandemonium was in full swing.
Pavia accounted for 294 total yards and 2 passing touchdowns with a 75% completion rate. He added a cherry on top with a game-winning rushing touchdown in overtime. Time and time again, Pavia came through for Vanderbilt, especially late in the fourth when he spearheaded a 6-play, 70-yard drive to tie the game at 27.
From hard-hitting runs that dragged Hokies along with him to dancing in the endzone with kids on the sideline, Pavia showed the nation he belonged.
DIEGO. PAVIA pic.twitter.com/3fA76RTa4m
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) August 31, 2024
“I’ll do whatever it takes to win. If that means no sliding, no sliding. If that means throwing the ball, [I’ll] throw the ball. If it means running the ball, [I’ll] run the ball,” Pavia said. “I want to get everyone involved. I want to be electric on the field. I want every believer in [Vanderbilt] football to come down to see a game and get some excitement.”
The excitement was certainly there, alongside a considerable amount of recognition. Pavia was named the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week and the Tennessee Sports Writers Offensive Player of the Week, among a slew of other awards.
Pavia, who was never meant to be on this stage, didn’t shy away from the limelight. And while he embraced it, he never forgot about the hefty chip on his shoulder.
“I feel like I knew who I could be from the start,” Pavia said in his post-game press conference. “It’s a compliment to coach Beck and coach Kill [for] trusting me to recruit me out of the portal. People wanted me, but it was never Power [Four]. I just feel like I’m the best player in the country and I’m here to show it.”
Approaching last weekend, questions about Pavia and Vanderbilt still swirled. Could that magic from Week One be replicated? Were Pavia and the rest of the reformed ‘Dores the real deal? Pavia knew that the newfound hype put the Black and Gold in the scope of the opposition.
“It puts a target on our back. We’ve got to show out every week now,” Pavia said. “The expectation is that we’re going to play Vanderbilt football. [That’s] hardhat, lunch pail football.”
Going into a Saturday night contest against Alcorn State, the Commodores were favored by more than 30 points. Vanderbilt delivered an even more dominant performance, demolishing the Braves in a 55-0 win, Vanderbilt’s largest since 2012. The result was enough to garner more votes in the AP Poll, with the Commodores now sitting fairly high at No. 34, inching closer and closer to breaking the Top 25.
Seemingly, this Vanderbilt team could be genuinely good, and it’s obvious that the man leading the way will be Pavia. Positive attention or not, Pavia is unfazed and believes the rest of his teammates will be too.
“What people say doesn’t faze me, whether it’s good or bad. You’ve got to just stay level-headed and live in the moment. Be the same person you were when you knew this wasn’t coming,” Pavia said. “You know, that’s what my mom tells me. ‘Stay humble, stay the same kid you were.’ I feel like we are all doing that pretty well here at Vanderbilt.”
Two weeks into the 2024 season, Vanderbilt has emerged as one of college football’s most surprising teams. The once-underestimated program is now beginning to show signs of belief and competitiveness that it had been missing for years.
Who better to lead the team than a player who embodies all that it means to be overlooked? Pavia may be proving his doubters wrong, but he’s also helping Vanderbilt achieve that same objective. As daunting as that may sound, Pavia is simply living in the moment.
“God gives you a dream for a reason. God gave me a dream as a little kid that [I was] going to play in the SEC one day. This is the dream,” Pavia said. “Just keep working and you’ll live out the dream that he has for you. That’s all I’m doing right now.”
