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.”

Diego Pavia transferred to Vanderbilt for the 2024 season after spending two seasons at New Mexico State. The 2023 Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year did not hold an FBS offer out of high school. A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Pavia spent two seasons at the New Mexico Military Institute to begin his career.

He led Vanderbilt’s upset of Alabama earlier this season. He threw for 252 yards and rushed for 56 more as the Commodores stunned No. 1 Alabama 40-35. The quarterback’s performance led Vanderbilt to its first win over an AP top-five team in program history. Vanderbilt was 0-60 all-time against AP top-five teams.