Diego Pavia ignites Vanderbilt basketball crowd, drops mic

Since knocking off then-No. 1 Alabama in early October and then beating the NCAA in a Tennessee courtroom, Diego Pavia is undeniably one of Nashville’s biggest stars, even without a guitar.

The always-animated Vanderbilt senior quarterback was back at Tuesday night when he electrified the Memorial Gymnasium crowd during a halftime ceremony celebrating the Commodores football team’s Birmingham Bowl win over Georgia Tech on Dec. 27. The Vanderbilt men’s basketball team wasn’t as successful Tuesday night, falling to No. 14 Mississippi State, 76-64.

“I want to thank everyone sitting in their seats right now, especially the student section, we’ve got something bigger coming next year,” Pavia said. “Let me hear you say, ‘Vandy, we f***ing turnt!'”

Diego Pavia:

“Vandy we F****** turnt!” pic.twitter.com/OM0u61RPEg

— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) January 8, 2025

Pavia will return to lead the Vanderbilt football team again in 2025 for what will be his sixth season of collegiate eligibility after a Tennessee district court judge granted him a preliminary injunction against the NCAA enforcing eligibility restrictions for seasons spent at the junior college level.

While the NCAA appeals the decision, the Division I Board of Directors subsequently granted a blanket elibility waiver allowing student-athletes that previously competed at a non-NCAA school and ran out of collegiate eligibility with the 2024 season to participate in the 2025 season. That move prompted the NCAA to consider adding a fifth year of eligibility to the current four-year limit for all student-athletes across all sports.

Pavia’s extensive collegiate career began with a two-year stint at New Mexico Military Institute, a junior college, before transferring to New Mexico State, where he played two seasons before following then-Aggies head coach Jerry Kill to Vanderbilt for the 2024 season.

Pavia led the Commodores with 2,293 passing yards and 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions this past season, in addition to 801 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.

Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia granted eligibility for 2025 season

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia will be allowed to play in 2025, for now. Pavia’s motion for a preliminary injunction has been granted in the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee, arguing that the governing body’s redshirt rule involving junior college eligibility violates antitrust law.

Wednesday’s ruling from Judge William Campbell will allow Vanderbilt’s star quarterback to return for another season. The NCAA will be able to challenge the court’s injunction, but for now, he will be able to play next season.

Pavia initially filed a lawsuit in November against the NCAA, arguing that because the governing body counts junior college seasons towards NCAA eligibility and athletes cannot redshirt after they have played four years, NCAA rules violate antitrust law. The former New Mexico State transfer also argued that this forced athletes to miss out on NIL dollars.

“Defendant NCAA, its servants, agents, and employees, and all person acting in active concert or participation with the NCAA are hereby restrained and enjoined from enforcing NCAA Bylaw 12.02.6 to preclude Pavia from playing NCAA Division I football in 2025,” Campbell’s order stated.

In previously filed documents, Pavia wrote that he believed he could earn more than $1 million in 2025 if allowed another season. Sources told On3 that as of now, Pavia does not plan to enter the transfer portal.

“I would like to return to Vanderbilt next year,” Pavia said in court documents, “but need time to negotiate NIL deals before the transfer portal opens. If the transfer portal opens before I can complete negotiations with Anchor Impact (the NIL collective for Vanderbilt athletics), I will be trapped between abandoning those negotiations to enter the transfer portal or foregoing possible opportunities with other colleges who may recruit other quarterbacks out of the transfer portal before I can enter.”

Pete Nakos contributed to this report.