English
EspañolWhen former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia didn't win the Heisman Trophy in December, he didn't take it well.
The "F— all the voters" reaction was a clear misstep, one for which Pavia apologized. But it doesn't take away from what Pavia accomplished in his six years at the college level, which put him in a position to be at the 2026 scouting combine this week and potentially selected in this year's draft.
Pavia said on Friday that teams have not asked him about that incident from December in his meetings this week.
Does that surprise him?
"No, I just think they — not that they don’t care or whatever, but they kind of know the situation already," Pavia said in his press conference.
While this was a situation Pavia created from his reaction, there have been others that have sprung up for different reasons. Pavia chalks that up to the media being the media in the 21st century.
"One thing about me is I don’t care what people think about me," Pavia said. "I think that just comes from [feeling like] God has a plan for me regardless. But, the way the media is, they’re supposed to put out clickbait and things like that. That’s how people get views, and that’s how people make money. I understand that. And so, people will twist a story and try to put out bad media to get clicks, good media to get clicks.
"But that’s just today’s world that we live in. So, I’m just adjusting to the new world."
On Thursday, Pavia's Vanderbilt teammate, tight end Eli Stowers, said there are "a lot" of misconceptions about Pavia.
"Certain things go out in the media and narratives get written, but in reality, as a person, I love him to death," Stowers said. "That kid cares about everybody in his life. He loves everybody in his life. He’s the best teammate you could have. I was roommates with him for the last two years, and it was an amazing experience."
While Vanderbilt generously listed Pavia as 6-feet tall, he measured in at 5-foot-9 and 7/8 at the Senior Bowl in January. That would make him the shortest quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger if he were to make it.
Despite that size, Pavia feels like he has the juice to play at the highest level.
“I would just say turn on the tape,” Pavia said. “It’s not like we’re not playing these guys who are going first round, second round on Saturdays in the SEC. So, I know the SEC and the Big Ten probably have the most guys drafted in the first and second round. So, we’re playing those guys and ain’t nothing going to change.
“I played six years of college football,” Pavia later added. “I played two at JUCO, two at New Mexico State, two at Vanderbilt. I’ve seen a lot of football. I feel like I can process a defense really fast, get the ball where it needs to go, check us into good plays, stay out of bad plays. And I feel like that’s how you stay on schedule [with] that second-and-6, third-and-short, that’s how you win football games.”