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For the first time in the 135-year history of the Vanderbilt football program, the Commodores have a Heisman Trophy finalist in the form of star quarterback Diego Pavia.
Pavia took the nation by storm last year for the ‘Dores, and then one-upped himself this season when he nearly led the team to the College Football Playoff.
But in a different world, things could have played far, far differently for Pavia in his college career.
Diego Pavia Turned Down Opportunity To Play For Deion Sanders
Pavia recently appeared on The Pivot podcast with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor to discuss a number of topics. One of the topics included an opportunity to play for Deion Sanders at Jackson State that he ultimately turned down.
“Coach Prime offered me at Jackson State,” Pavia said. “But he was so real. He’s like, ‘Hey look, we’re looking for a backup. You ain’t playing over my son even if he gets hurt.’ I’m like, at least he’s real, you know?”
Pavia explains how he instead opted to take a scholarship offer from Jerry Kill at New Mexico State after playing at the Junior College level for New Mexico Military Institute.
Ultimately, things worked out as well as possible for Pavia, who starred at New Mexico State before following Kill to Vanderbilt when he took a job as an analyst under head coach Clark Lea.
Had Pavia taken the offer from Sanders, it’s hard to picture him becoming the star he is today. Unless he transferred elsewhere when Sanders left for Colorado, Pavia would’ve still been backing up Shedeur Sanders a year ago.
He may have stepped into the starting job at Colorado this season. But the Buffaloes weren’t nearly as successful as Vanderbilt was.
So while it may sound like a dream pairing, it sure seems as if Pavia clearly made the right choice by turning Sanders down.