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College football star provides colorful description of how he exacted revenge by defiling the logo of former hated in-state rival

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Ryan Roberts | Last updated Jun 19, 2025 6:02 PM ET

The legend of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia continues to grow, especially after his recent interview with Bussin with the Boys. A former JUCO star, Pavia has continued to defy the odds to become a college football star. He has gone from All-American at New Mexico Military Institute to New Mexico State superstar, and now standout with the Vanderbilt Commodores.

After fighting to get one final year of eligibility due to his time in the JUCO ranks, Pavia looks ready to have some more big moments in 2025, including a second upset attempt against Alabama. Pavia is a really talented athlete, and an extremely tough player, but he is defined by the tenacity he plays with and the chip he has on his shoulder.

During his conversion with Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, Pavia spoke about his time at New Mexico State. He went in depth about his distaste for the New Mexico Lobos program. That included an incident he owned up to during the 2023 season with the Aggies.

Before the year, I pissed on their Lobo in the midfield of their indoor. Before the game, no one said anything about it and they were using it as fuel. They thought they were going to beat us and use it against me after. We went in there, wiped them out, the head coach was all sad and stuff. But I really had something against them because they didn’t recruit me out of JUCO when I won a national championship, when they were still losing, and/or out of high school.

Some will hear that story, and shake their heads endlessly. Yes, it’s a very disrespectful action toward New Mexico. Yes, it’s pretty gross as well. Like it or not, Pavia carries the disrespect on his sleeve and it drives him. He used his feelings about New Mexico to go out and win the football game.

Pavia heads into the 2025 season with a chance to lead Vanderbilt to back to back winning seasons for the first time in many years. Over his three years on the FBS level, Pavia has thrown for 6,716 yards and 59 touchdowns. He has also rushed for another for another 2,232 yards and 21 more scores.

While the 6-0, 200-pound passer is not much of an NFL prospect, he has become one of the more likable players in all of college football. It will never be perfect, but you can bet it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch No. 2 from Vanderbilt this season.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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