Hello St. Louis Priory students, today you all may think that I am writing about Diego Pavia’s hard journey to become a Heisman finalist, but no, I am writing about how cocky he is about himself and why many strongly dislike him. When you look at Diego Pavia as a college football fan you either love him or you strongly dislike him. It’s all a 50/50. For me, being a Mizzou fan, I strongly dislike him. So do most SEC football fans. He is cocky, he thinks he’s on top of the world. He is a sixth-year senior that is closer to the age of 30 than 18. If you have been watching college football for the past five years you know that super seniors are more frequently seen now because of COVID-19, which gave every player an extra year of eligibility.
Diego Pavia should’ve graduated from Vanderbilt last year. But the NCAA gave him one more, and I believe that this year of eligibility for him shouldn’t have happened. If you watched Mizzou football in 2022, you probably would have seen the Mizzou football 2022 senior night game. The Tigers paid the University of New Mexico State to come play Missouri in late November. Watch that game. Check who is at quarterback. Diego Pavia was their quarterback that year and was a junior, from his extra eligibility year from COVID-19.
In 2022 Diego Pavia and the New Mexico State Aggies played the University of Liberty. New Mexico State won that game despite being neither favored nor predicted to win whatsoever. That game is what started a player vs. coach rivalry: Diego Pavia vs. Hugh Freeze. Hugh was the coach at Liberty that year and then in 2023 came to Auburn.
Then in 2023 it was also Auburn’s senior day. The Tigers would also invite the Aggies to come play in Jordan-Hare Stadium that afternoon. The final score was 31-10 for a New Mexico State win. In the offseason after the 2023 season, Diego Pavia would take his talents to the University of Vanderbilt.
In 2024 Vanderbilt started off like they did every past year. They went on the road to Georgia State and lost 32-36. Two weeks later they would play Missouri on the road and lose in a heartbreaker 2OT finish 27-30, with their kicker Brock Taylor hooking a 32-yard kick.
Just another two weeks later came something no one saw. Alabama in Week 5 would play No. 4 Georgia at home. Alabama would win that rivalry in a thriller 34-41. Alabama was announced as the No. 1 team in the nation that week and would go on the road to play Vanderbilt. This seemed like a cakewalk. Vanderbilt already lost two games and looked like they always have. The afternoon slate of Week 6 would have Alabama go on the road and take on unranked Vanderbilt. Ever since that day Vanderbilt football has changed greatly. Vandy would beat No. 1 Alabama 35-40. That was Vanderbilt’s first win over the No. 1 team in the nation in football. Vanderbilt would become ranked No. 25 two weeks later.
On Nov. 2, 2024 Vanderbilt would go on the road to Auburn. Hugh Freeze was still Auburn’s head coach at the time. Vanderbilt would win 17-7 and the rivalry would end there. (Yes, there is a chance that Diego Pavia could play Hugh Freeze in the NFL but Diego Pavia isn’t going to play an NFL game in his life.) Vanderbilt would end their 2024 season going 8-5 with a bowl game win. That was a great season in a while for the Commodores.
Shortly after Vanderbilt’s bowl game win, Diego Pavia would ask the NCAA for another year of eligibility. Of course, he got it. I wouldn’t be writing this if he didn’t. In the preseason of 2025 no one thought about Diego Pavia being a Heisman finalist. People did think that Vanderbilt could probably go to another bowl game that season though.
In Week 7 of the college football season Vanderbilt lost to Alabama on the road which was a revenge game for the Crimson Tide. College GameDay would go to Alabama for this game. But pregame Diego would practice the QB kneel, play with his center and handshake his teammates, which says: “We are going to win and I’m practicing for it.” Of course, if you know any bit of football you know that the QB kneel play doesn’t require any practice. This is where Diego Pavia starts to get cocky with his career.
In Week 8 No. 17 Vanderbilt would host No. 10 LSU Tigers. Pregame again Diego Pavia practiced his QB kneel. Sideline analysts would record this and post on social media about this. Vanderbilt would get a huge win that day 24-31. Where on one of Diego Pavia’s touchdowns he would do the infamous Heisman pose. Pavia did have a good game against a great ranked team and then people would talk about possibly Diego Pavia could be a Heisman finalist.
Diego Pavia would keep on having to put up stats like that, although which is very challenging being an SEC quarterback. In Week 9 Missouri would go on the road and play Vanderbilt. Mizzou was coming off of a road win to Auburn and College GameDay went to Nashville for this game. Pregame as usual Diego would do the practice QB kneel.
In the third quarter Mizzou was down 3-10 having it 4th and goal on the Vanderbilt 1. Missouri Tiger offensive coordinator decided to go for it. Moore called a QB keep with Tigers quarterback Beau Pribula, and Pribula stood up right at the line. But if you looked at the play deep enough you would see that a Commodores defensive lineman would get Pribula at the ankle and knew that Pribula had to fall backwards. That play caused Pribula to have an ankle injury and be out for the season.
Matt Zollers would step in as the Mizzou quarterback and try to get a key ranked win on the road. Then early in the fourth quarter Zollers threw a 17-yard TD pass to his tight end for a tied 10-10 game. Punts occurred by both teams and then Vanderbilt had it second and goal to Mizzou 1. Clark Lea called a timeout and would have Diego Pavia run it in.
Now may I say that the refs in this game for the Tigers were not good whatsoever. These were the worst refs Mizzou would have all season. So Pavia ran it in with less than a minute to go and Vanderbilt took a 10-17 lead. Look at Pavia’s touchdown again and you will see that there was a missed holding call on a Vanderbilt offensive lineman. Then the Tigers would get right at the 50 with time to throw a Hail Mary. The ball was caught by Kevin Coleman as he was down at the 1.
Mizzou lost 10-17 and Diego Pavia did not have a good game whatsoever. It wasn’t a terrible game but it was in the middle. But because of Vanderbilt getting ranked higher the talk about Diego Pavia being Heisman rose. And in Week 13 and 14 people really talk about the finalists. Five top people were Jeremiah Love, Fernando Mendoza, Julian Sayin, Diego Pavia, and Marcel Reed. Most people on the internet were angry that Pavia was somehow even in that list.
In Week 14 Vanderbilt would play Tennessee on the road and Texas A&M would play Texas on the road. Marcel Reed was the Texas A&M quarterback, and on Black Friday Texas A&M would lose their first game of the season by 10 to their rivals. Marcel Reed did not have a great game, matter of fact it was terrible. When his team needed him in that game for the season on the line he threw multiple picks.
This gave Diego Pavia a wide-open chance to make something happen. The Commodores beat their rivals 45-24 and Diego Pavia had a great game. Amazing for that matter. Vanderbilt, although, was not good enough to go to the SEC Championship. And all over social media Diego Pavia was doing dances and doing the Heisman pose when the video was over. Many people on the internet started saying that Diego Pavia wants to win the Heisman more than his team to go to the playoffs. If you have watched any of his shows this season you would see that it is true.
On Monday Diego Pavia was announced to be a Heisman finalist. I did not like it at all and didn’t understand how this happened. Marcel Reed had one bad game and Diego Pavia had multiple including Texas, Mizzou, and Alabama. Not all of you may agree with me but who do you think could win the Heisman this year?
