'Turn on the tape': Diego Pavia confident his size will translate to NFL

Diego Pavia is confident in himself despite stature

Pavia has always been a shorter quarterback. That's not a new challenge for him to overcome, and he succeeded in the SEC even at that height. So, it's no surprise that he would be confident, recently directing NFL teams to go watch what he did.

“I would just say turn on the tape,” Pavia said, per Pro Football Talk's Myles Simmons. “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 rounds. So, we’re playing those guys and ain’t nothing going to change."

It was an impressive career, marked most notably by his time with Vanderbilt. In two seasons there, he made the Commodores a competitor in the SEC. Individually, he completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 5,832 yards and 49 touchdowns in 26 games there. He also rushed for 1,663 yards and 18 touchdowns at Vanderbilt.

“I played six years of college football,” Pavia 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.”

Still, it's rare that NFL teams even take a shot on someone his size. Instead, teams tend to prefer those taller quarterbacks, who are supposed to see downfield more easily and over the offensive line. There is also the added concern that shorter quarterbacks will have more passes tipped. 

None of that is to say that shorter quarterbacks never get a shot in the NFL. Drew Brees is a Hall of Fame quarterback at 6 feet tall. Then, Russell Wilson won a Super Bowl at 5-foot-11. Bryce Young and Kyler Murray both went first overall at 5-foot-10. 

The challenge is that all of those quarterbacks had to overcome their height in the eyes of NFL evaluators. Plenty of others never managed to, despite excellent college careers. Now, Pavia will need to find a way to overcome it too.