The Rise and Fall of Diego Pavia

Diego Pavia was a hometown hero in high school. In his senior season he completed 108/165 pass attempts, with 14 TDs, and 5 INTs and rushed for 464 yards off of 61 carries. Diego led Volcano Vista High School to 11-0 record. The football field was one of three places Diego took the spotlight, the others being the wrestling mat in the winter and the baseball field in the spring. Even with his impressive achievements in football, he was not granted a Division 1 scholarship out of high school. Diego decided to play for the New Mexico Military Broncos, a JUCO school located in Roswell, New Mexico. During his two years in Roswell, he won the NJCAA national football championship.

After two years in JUCO Diego transferred to New Mexico State where he stayed for another 2 years. In his first year (2022) Diego completed 101/190 pass attempts which went for 1,450 yards, within those he threw 14 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Diego played 12 games that season but only started 8 of them. In his second year with the Aggies, he showed growth completing 221 of his 366 pass attempts, throwing for 2,973 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions, also starting all 15 games that season. That was Diego’s farewell season with the Aggies because the following year he would be starting at Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt had a solid year being led by Diego Pavia. They went 7-6 (3-5 SEC) reaching their first bowl game since 2018, where they were able to defeat Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl. It wasn’t until his final college season where Diego received media attention. Pavia made headlines after defeating No. 11 ranked South Carolina at the time (they went below .500 to end the season). His constant Heisman celebrations after every touchdown started talk about the playoff chances for Vanderbilt and Heisman odds for Diego Pavia. Other noticeable wins included 31-24 over LSU, 17-10 against Mizzou, and 45-24 against Tennessee. Yes, they did fall short against Alabama and Texas but that didn’t stop Pavia from running his mouth. These interviews are what made Pavia the villain in many fan’s eyes. People got a constant reminder of Johnny Manziel when hearing him talk and that didn’t bode well for his future. 

Even though he fell short of the CFP, Diego was still a Heisman finalist. Many believed it was between him and Fernando Mendoza. Two guys who couldn’t be on further sides of the spectrum. Fernando became the fan favorite for his humble attitude, and Pavia stayed very blunt to put it softly. After placing second in the voting Diego went on his Instagram story and posted a picture saying “F*ck all the voters”, which doesn’t look good in the eyes of any NFL coach, but then he went out that night and ordered bottle service with a sign that read “Fuck Indiana”. At this point it was impossible to defend Pavia. First he cussed out the Heisman voters then next he showed disrespect to Fernando Mendoza and the entire Indiana team, who got the last laugh in the end by winning the national championship.

As if he hadn’t dug himself a deep enough hole, Diego announced that Johnny Manziel was his mentor, which was nails on a chalk board for the NFL general managers. You have a guy that curses Heisman voters and other teams, parties before games (Senior Bowl), has Johnny Manziel as a mentor, and to cap it all off before the draft announces that he will represent himself and will not have a manager. That decision was made because he didn’t think it was fair for a manager to take a percentage of his earnings. The same manager that would help him get a contract and sponsorships, kickstarting his professional career. 

To no one’s surprise Diego Pavia went undrafted in the 2026 NFL draft having every team pass on him. However, the Baltimore Ravens invited him to a rookie minicamp. Not the outcome you expect from the Heisman runner up but somehow Diego made that his reality. The Ravens threw Diego another lifeline by signing him to a 3-year $3.1 million contract. But don’t get too excited for him because there was no signing bonus and no guaranteed money. After going quiet for a while, on July 23rd Diego Pavia was waived from the Ravens leaving with nothing. All the hard work it took for him to climb his way from JUCO to the SEC went to waste. Would Diego Pavia have been drafted if he had a manager. Will we see Diego Pavia on an NFL team this coming Fall or did he follow Manziel too closely?