How Clark Lea is Managing Diego Pavia and Eli Stowers Heading Into Fall Camp

Vanderbilt football holding a spring game at FirstBank Stadium in 2025 was a marker of progress in itself. No more high school fields. No fear of poaching. Just a spring football game. 

Only, the two most important pieces of Vanderbilt’s roster—as well as a few of its other starters—were standing on the sidelines and behind the play with shorts and no shoulder pads on. While most of Vanderbilt’s roster was going, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was held out in the interest of preserving his body and tight end Eli Stowers was out due to a minor injury.

Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea knew that his stars’ absences were disappointing to the group of fans in the stands, but he had to make a business decision. Lea’s teams are 3-13 in November since the start of his tenure as Vanderbilt’s head coach and finished 1-3 with three-consecutive losses last November. 

That 2024 Vanderbilt team came out of the gates firing with a 34-27 win over Virginia Tech, but ultimately felt the ill effects of Pavia wearing down from big hit after big hit over the course of the season. 

“We know Eli can play. We know Diego can play. There are other guys that have proven through repetition that they can play at the top end of our our league,” Lea told Vandy on SI. “We have to make sure we're doing the things we need to so that they're available.”

Pavia and Stowers have proven themselves and aren’t exactly competing for a starting role anymore—like each of them were last fall camp—but Lea isn’t exempting them from an effective fall camp routine. 

Vanderbilt has an offensive line that projects to have four newcomers as well as a wide receiver room that could have as many as two starters that are newcomers and will have to act accordingly in the fall. As a result, Lea and his staff have to find the balance between allowing Pavia and Stowers to find continuity and finding time to take care of their bodies. 

“We’ll get the work done that we need to get done, but we’ll try to balance that with getting off our feet,” Lea said. “We have to make sure we're doing the things we need to so that they're available. The availability of our roster becomes the strength of our performance.”

Lea believes that the plan that Vanderbilt’s strength and conditioning staff in year two under their new regime can allow Pavia and Stowers to “establish the ability to recover more quickly” from practice to practice and game to game. The Vanderbilt staff will also look to manage heat and field exposure carefully throughout the fall. 

Vanderbilt won’t be shutting down its guys for the fall, though. It will be careful, but it’s also giving its big names some leash.

It’s a balance.