Tennessean Sportsperson of Year, Diego Pavia talks with The Tennessean
Tennessean Sportsperson of the Year, Diego Pavia, talks about his team and hopes for Vanderbilt
Few, if any, players have defined the 2025 college football season quite as much as Diego Pavia.
After leading Vanderbilt to its first bowl game in six years in 2024, Pavia had a resounding encore in store for his second season at the school. Behind Pavia’s dual-threat wizardry, the Commodores won a program-record 10 games during the regular season and narrowly missed out on the College Football Playoff.
Pavia threw for 3,192 yards, ran for another 826 and accounted for 36 total touchdowns, numbers that allowed him to finish second in Heisman Trophy voting, the highest-ever finish for a Vanderbilt player.
Away from the field, he generated plenty of attention, too, whether it was showing up at UFC bouts, palling around with popular podcaster Theo Von or, perhaps most famously, lashing out at Heisman Trophy voters after finishing just short of earning college football’s most prestigious individual honor.
Though nothing’s ever a guarantee with Pavia, who had his eligibility clock extended by a court ruling last year, his college career is likely ending after Vanderbilt’s matchup against Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
Will he be playing? Here’s what you need to know about Pavia’s playing status for the ReliaQuest Bowl:
Is Diego Pavia playing in the bowl game?
The ReliaQuest Bowl will indeed feature one of college football’s biggest stars.
Diego Pavia will suit up for Vanderbilt against Iowa in their New Year’s Eve matchup, with Pavia confirming his status earlier this month.
Pavia has been an iron man for the Commodores, playing in each of the 25 games with the program since transferring over from New Mexico State after the 2023 season.
His participation in the bowl game was only so much of a question. Pavia put doubt over his playing status to bed quickly, confirming the assumption of many fans who thought that Pavia was likely to play given his competitive temperament and his relatively bleak prospects for a lengthy NFL career.
Pavia will be without his favorite target, though. Tight end Eli Stowers, the John Mackey Award winner who made the move with Pavia from New Mexico State to Vanderbilt, will not play in the bowl game to instead focus on his NFL draft preparation.
“Eli has been such an incredible part of the success of this team, and I’m so proud to have him as a Vanderbilt football alum,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said on Dec. 28. “I said this from the get-go, his health is our health, his success is our success and we support him and his decision not to play. I’m also very happy that he’s been around and been with us and will be with us on Wednesday, and so he remains an important part of this team, but obviously for where he’s projected in the draft, and for all that that can mean for him and also for this program, I support him all the way.”
Diego Pavia eligibility 2026
Though Pavia has played six seasons of college football, including four at the FBS level, his remaining eligibility is still something of an open question.
Pavia had already received an additional year of eligibility after winning a preliminary injunction in December 2024 from a U.S. district court judge in a lawsuit Pavia had filed against the NCAA.
Though Pavia plans to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, he’s one of 27 college football players who are part of a lawsuit against the NCAA seeking additional eligibility. The lawsuit is targeting an NCAA rule that counts players’ years at junior college against their NCAA eligibility clock. Pavia played two seasons for the New Mexico Military Institute before transferring to New Mexico State ahead of the 2022 season.
The lawsuit received a potential boost this month when the NCAA allowed former NBA draft pick and European professional basketball player James Nnaji to join the men’s basketball team at Baylor. Ryan Downton, the attorney for Pavia and the other players in the lawsuit, filed a memorandum in Tennessee federal court on Friday, Dec. 26 asking U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell to prohibit the NCAA from enforcing its eligibility rules while citing the Nnaji case and opening his argument with a reference to Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
“When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but … the hypocrisy of the NCAA granting four years of eligibility to a 21-year-old European professional basketball player with four years of professional experience who was drafted by an NBA team two years ago,” he wrote.
Diego Pavia height
Pavia is listed on Vanderbilt’s official roster at 6 feet tall, though his stated measurements have been a source of skepticism from fans and other observers who believe he’s shorter.
For all of his college production, Pavia’s small physical stature is likely to limit his viability as an NFL quarterback.
Diego Pavia stats
This season, Pavia completed 71.2% of his passes for 3,192 yards, 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions, along with 826 rushing yards and nine touchdowns.
Over his four years of FBS football, Pavia has accounted for 9,908 passing yards, 86 touchdowns and 27 interceptions, as well as 3,062 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns.
