Diego Pavia proclaims Vanderbilt will run Tennessee after this season

Diego Pavia is going to create a storm in Knoxville with this one. The charismatic Vanderbilt quarterback proclaimed the Commodores will run the State of Tennessee when the 2025 college football season wraps up.

The 24-year old quarterback made his prediction during an appearance on Bussin’ With The Boys: “Vanderbilt is gonna run Tennessee after this year,” Pavia proclaimed. “This is gonna be the new staple of college football. It’s going to happen here at Vanderbilt.”

Evidently, Pavia believes Vanderbilt’s play, coupled with being located in Nashville and their NIL prowess, will lead to them overtaking the Volunteers as the state’s premier college football program: “Everyone wants to come to Tennessee because of Nashville,” Pavia added. “They want to come to Nashville, so Vanderbilt.

“Then, when we have like, the most money in NIL, why not come here? So, we literally just have to win this year and throughout the rest of the year, and it’ll take care of itself.”

While Pavia is simplifying the situation a bit, he’s not short on confidence for 2025. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, no matter how many people he’s going to annoy in Knoxville with his comments.

It wasn’t always guaranteed, but Pavia is elated return to lead Vanderbilt again this coming season. It’ll 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.

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

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

Last season though, Vanderbilt didn’t have the best performance against Tennessee. The Commodores raced out to a 17-7 lead in the first half, but the Volunteers fought back in a big way. When the final whistle blew, Tennessee left Nashville with a 36-23 win.

If Diego Pavia’s plan is to come to fruition, Vanderbilt is going to have to beat Tennessee head-to-head. That game will come on Nov. 29 in Knoxville this season. You can bet there will be a ton of hype behind that one.