How does Diego Pavia's Experience Give Him the Edge in the QB Race?

how does Diego Pav's experience give him the edge in the quarterback race you are locked on Vandy your daily podcast on the Vanderbilt commodor part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday welcome into the locked on VY podcast and the locked on podcast Network I'm your host Cory Burton thanks for making locked on VY your first listen every sing SLE day we're free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube as a part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as playoffs wind down the Sports Stop sporting like we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that's right there's something for everyone every day all summer long so visit fanduel.com to get started the defense continues to progress and make plays as fall Camp rages on Rand fet is quickly becoming a big star emphasis on the word star as for the offense the Run game is starting to click a little bit and the tight ends will be a major focal point in Bridging the Run game and the pass game however the quarterback race is still tight no one's quite pulled away yet but in the end I think Diego Pav's experience gives him a big time edge here or gives him an edge at least uh in this quarterback Duo so um when if you put all the fact fa s into this quarterback race okay and we are to preface this we are kind of at a point at fall Camp to where you're kind of like at the you're starting to get kind of the tail end of the installs you're getting you're still getting some experimentation with combinations along the offensive line you're still getting uh wide receiver rotations that you haven't quite figured out um you're still there's still some things some Kinks that you're working out with in the system um and then everyone well everyone except deavia really is getting used to this new system and and learning everything as well like there's there's still a big learning curve so I I think a lot of what you're going to read a lot of what you're going to hear about and if you're practice a lot of what you're going to see is a team just trying to figure it out and honestly as an offense as a whole you're seeing moments to where it's like okay we get this and this is going to be special and you see that moment out of both quarterbacks so in order to know kind of where they are and kind of project where they're going to be you have to kind of know where they are in the process as well and that's that's the process Pavia is is a little bit ahead right now because I I think implementing the more new the the deeper nuances of the system I think is causing Nate Johnson to struggle a little bit enough to give Pavia the slight Edge I think Pavia has got some of these nuances down I just think that there's some throws that Diego Pavia does actually struggle with physically so um but when it comes to running the offense like here here's how he here here's how he has the edge at least as of right now I think Nate Johnson's gonna have to come if Nate Johnson wants to win this he's going to have to come roaring back and he's going to really have to show it that he can play exceptionally well and he can uh not only be I think if he can just get himself equally mentally within the system I think his physical Talent can take over and he can actually can has a chance to win this quarterback job but um I I think that's going to be something that is going to be a bit of a struggle with him because of the experience Gap and that's where Diego Pavia does indeed have the uh had the advantage a little bit has the edge in this race so and then what does that mean okay what does that mean to have the edge what does that mean to for experience to have the edge right because Nate Johnson did play a lot last year obviously not in the same system but he did play a lot so it's not really necessarily playing time that's the edge Pavia um started last year he's been in this system for a while when it comes to experience okay he this offense was kind of tailored to his skill set a little bit okay if you look a lot of the a lot of the shot plays that he takes he hits early right so he doesn't let it get too far down the field he hits that he hits those routes at about 15 maximum 20 yards um and he he usually hits those shot plays a little bit early um you know the Run game is kind of developed for his style a little bit um he knows the checks he knows exactly what to look for uh there's a concept it's the same lingo because it's uh the person he played for a year ago so they're just kind of carrying some things over and I think they're molding a little bit around Nate Johnson as well so that he can be successful but the verbiage I I think is where is where dieo Pavia has he can speak the language he can speak fluently whereas Nate Johnson is functionally fluent right now whereas like he knows enough to kind of get him to get him by but he's not an expert just quite yet and it's just an experiencing so what that means is going a little bit deeper in what that means when when you get a when you get a play call from the sideline all right you know all right there's things that you know and then there's things that you know beyond what you know okay um what you know let's say it's uh let's say it's an RPO um like the one I showed you guys last week uh it's the RPO where it's inside Zone to the left and it's TI the tight end and spit them out into the flat away from the play call um the things you know all right you know that generally speaking that outside linebacker The Edge player the guy outside of the outside of the tackle so in a ghost n ghost 6 wherever he is you're reading his leverage and at the snap of the ball you're reading his leverage he does one thing you do the other that's something that you know that's something that all the quarterbacks know all right where the experience kicks in um because you've done this play you've you've repped it you've talked about it you have discovered ways to manipulate it okay that's the things you know more on a deeper level and playing in this offense allows you that chance so it is more than just he does this I do that it's the the more you get comfortable with it the more it becomes hey I'm going to make you do this so that I can do that okay because got Eli Towers I've got Cole Spence coming across in the flat and you're going to have a hard time tackling them so I'm going to manipulate you and force you to come down so that when he crosses your face he has Spa he has room to to catch the ball right it's holding on to that mesh a little bit extra longer it's pulling it and getting yourself in a position to where you make that guy wrong no matter what he does right it's those things right and Nate Johnson will develop that blaz buros will develop that St hir mus champ Dicky they'll all deliver they'll all develop that pav has been all last year de developing that same with the jet Reed where the jet comes across and he shuffles Shuffle shuffles I I think that you know some of the nuances as far as like holding the mesh Point uh with the Run game is something that he does uh tremendously well I I don't know that the other quarterbacks are as seasoned with that as he is that's where experience comes into play that's where he knows that hey I've got some limitations athletically that I have to help myself out by manipulating Defenders freezing Defenders making them not come take shots on me and that's those are kind of the things that veteran quarterbacks especially veterans within the system do even though Nate Johnson has made a hell of a battle out of this he is tremendously athletic there's a lot of things that he can do that Diego Pavia cannot do but what Nate Johnson doesn't have just yet and is still early in Camp he can still get on an equal enough footing to where the physical Talent takes over I said that from the jump Diego uh Nate Johnson needs to get to a point in this race to where it comes down to a physical Talent battle and he will win that battle he's got the better arm he's more explosive and he is uh and he he make he's he's Dynamite Pavia is a dude he's just a leader I mean Nate Johnson's a leader too and he's showing that but Diego pavia's edges are knowledge of the system leader tough Runner motivate everybody around them super you know super intelligent understands the understands the the the bigger Nuance the the deeper more intricate nuances and and things about the about the system and that allows him to to have that edge so Nate Johnson needs to learn on pass plays he needs to learn I think also what Pavia has and what Nate Johnson needs to develop and this will this will also be another separator this comes with experience is you call it you call a past play right let's say even on the shot play that I that I drew up the the the switch the vertical switch right it's knowing hey if it's a certain look let's say you run it against a single high safety and you got you got man coverage right it's knowing that hey I want to hey I want to send I want to look that safety over to the field so that I can so that I can Buzz the ball into the into the boundary seam which is that outside receiver coming down or I want to I want to stare down the free safety and come back over uh to to the boundary side and then I want to play games with that corner so when I flip my hips over to that I want to put that corner in a bind and I know that if I hit this tight end quick we can get some Yaks and that that's the kind that's kind of how Diego Pavia is able to make his big chunk yardage is he's not taking the big shot over the top he's using that to open up things underneath because he knows he's deficient and he can't like his biggest problem right now and this has been a problem you know this has been a problem and I think Tim Beck has done a good job of um working around that is throwing the Deep ball and again it's uh it's experience and knowing that hey I've got limitations I need to be able to do everything I can to give myself an advantage in spite of my limitations physically so the experience is something that Nate Johnson is gonna have to overcome and he's gonna have to develop quick if he wants if he wants to continue to have a chance at winning the starting quarterback job versus just having a package of plays which is good in its own right but obviously he wants to be the number one quarterback everybody does so um that that's something that needs to to to be held but regardless of who the quarterback is this offense is going to be built on the Run game it's going to feature the tight end anyway as I said the tight ends are they're Bridging the Gap right now because the receivers are struggling they're developing uh the Run game is starting to pick up some steam as well uh we'll talk about what what that looks like next right this episode's brought 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including conference realignment the transfer portal nil and new college football expanded playoffs and more lock on college football is available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast part of the lockedown podcast Network your team every day so here's the thing thank you for making every dayers thank you for making all this possible this is so much fun man like giving you guys a little bit of detailed information here my inferences on what's what's happening from my perspective man I I I absolutely love this man the information coming in um you know I you know vandysports.com uh vandy247 um have been some great resources as far as information goes I'm reacting to what they're I'm reacting to the things that they're saying and I love it love it love it so um they get the credit for giving the information I'm just reacting to I'm just giving my opinion on what they're what they're giving me which is great great stuff by the way so um the offense man it's becoming more and more obvious right we all knew this go coming in because of what they do um we all knew this this is no surprise but it's actually starting to it's actually starting to develop and take shape so it's becoming more and more concept is becoming more and more real now um versus just a concept and something that we discussed as a possibility it's more than that it's more than that now so the Run game is starting to pick up now some of that was Cedric Alexander was was banged up and wasn't really practicing at full speed but he's back um AJ Newberry has actually been showing out uh as a running running back there um but like I I I think you're starting to I think you're starting to get a run game that's picking up a little steam now now with the quarterbacks it's hard to get them involved with live reps right now because you you know you don't want to you don't want to put them in a live scrimmage 11on 11 situation um right now and blow out a knee or knock one of them out or whatever the case may be so the quarterback run game is something that usually kind of has like preseason type reps early in the season and then as the season wears on it gets stronger because just hard to work the timing out of that at full speed but um I I think your your run concepts are really starting to kind of kind of take shape especially in the Red Zone I mean you're you're uh you're getting good quality reps there and I I think you're starting to develop a a a true identity and offensive lineman I don't know if you know much about offensive lineman um but they love Run game they love running the football like there's nothing that fires offensive lineman up and any offensive lineman that's listening to this will tell you that when they hear a run play Third and long they want to run power let's just put the guards they want to pull tackles want to Maul somebody they don't want to sit back and pass Pro they want to run and this is great so Cedric Alexander is more involved now uh Gillespie is somebody that can come in and be kind of like a change of pace guy um somebody said that um Dominic resic reac I think it's reac Dominic reac he he's he's surprising a few folks as well um but uh they they're going to have some good stuff out of the back field for these guys they're going to have some good stuff in between the tackles uh screens things like that I think I think um the backs and the tight ends are going to get a lot of usage here uh so I'm I'm super excited about what the Run game is going to present and I can't wait to see kind of how how they attack uh exactly how they attack Virginia Tech and we'll talk more about that probably game week as far as being specific on how they attack them but um tight ends too uh talked about Cole Spence which I may have given him kind of like the equivalent of the Madden Curse because he kind of had like a not so not so great day or not a stellar MVP type day like he's been having um he kind of came back down to earth a little bit um the whole the whole group was just kind of yeah they were good some they were bad some um uninspiring some uh I think you know converting some third Downs has been a little bit of an issue there's a little bit of sloppiness just with the overall operation but I I think the tight ends are going to be extremely pivotal I think Cole Spence is I don't it doesn't change my opinion one decent practice versus uh Elite practices uh the it doesn't change my opinion on Cole Cole Spence I still everything I said is still very much true uh about about him um but I I think that you know there's some problems just kind of coordinating and getting these guys involved and getting them on the same page it's more of like a chemistry thing it's more of like a you know just like Hey we're we're learning the system and we're you know we're we're trying to figure things out too and we're trying to kind of slog our way through this thing but um you know those are those are kind of the things that they're dealing with on the offensive side of the ball with the tight ends they're just trying to figure out how to get them more more involved D with uh with the offense and getting them uh where they can contribute uh in in key situations and where they can where they can contribute in uh situations that hopefully allow them to stay ahead of the chains and being able to to find zones in the intermediate to short passing Windows being able to stay ahead like I said U and being able to keep defenses honest because when defenses find out that the true identity which they're going to find out pretty quick the true identity of this team is the Run game so as a defensive coordinator you're probably going to say okay V's coming to town we're gonna Force dieo PVE to go over the top of us we're gonna force them out of their run game and make them Panic a little bit and feel like they have to sling the ball around the yard which in an Ideal World Tim Beck would love that flexibility of being able to do that and making a team pay for saying hey we're going to we're going to put all our eggs and stopping the Run um but we're just not there yet the receivers just aren't there yet I don't think there's a guy that's been that's emerged there's been some disappointment U with some guys so far um not saying that they're just never going to contribute but it is uh not looking likely right now um that these guys are going to just you know I didn't expect them to magically just poof and here they are they're Superstars but I also thought they'd be a little bit further along at this point but again uh we got some great tight ends um got a good running game I think and something we can lean on um as we go um and as we develop and try to get better and improve with the uh with understanding the concept so this is going to be a fun offense to watch um right now it's just they're working on stuff they're trying stuff out situationally they're trying to see who they have what they have um what Red Zone guys they have are they going to go 12 person which they may do a little bit of or a lot of um to you know early on as they get receivers comfortable um and just seeing where everybody fits situationally um especially so um defensively is is is something that is continuing to improve uh Randon F's becoming a huge star at the star position um so he may be the best defense he may be the best defender on this unit that that Vandy has so stay tuned for that we'll talk about him next this episode is brought to you by game time did you know that game time is an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes getting tickets faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to the first pitch with killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guess workk out of buying MLB tickets so when you're browsing here's some great last minute deals these are the best because 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the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code locked on College that's l c k d o n c o l l e g e for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right welcome back wrapping up here on the lock on Vandy podcast thanks for making us your first listen each and every day check out college sports today check out the college football uh locked on college football as well locked on is another one you should check out I mean just run through the whole list of locked on shows while you're at it this such a great Network you should do that so um defense right Vanderbilt's going to be run game and defense that's GNA be Clark Le's wheelhouse that's going to be the identity of this team Run game and defense so I I absolutely love this okay and defense you're you're you're getting guys that are starting to emerge a little bit as uh as Playmakers and this is exciting because you know you're you're getting um you're getting people you're getting a lot of these transfer portal guys on defense that are starting to show out like they need help but you know they need some they need to find different types of guys at safety right and there's a there's a position that's kind of like a strong safety outside backer kind of a hybrid guy um and that's the star position and right now I talked about Randon fet as being good and sometimes you know when I talk about somebody being good I brag on them they like to make a liar out of me um anybody that has kids knows this um that when your kids are young and you're like oh my kid does this and you know then you try to like get them to do whatever you said whatever you just said in front of your friends and your kids's like Noah I'm not doing that I don't do that Dad I know uhuh so they make a liar out of you right um and sometimes happens but uh in this case that didn't happen Randon fet is absolutely amazing um and he is somebody that is just really turning it up a notch and he's becoming the uh the defense of MVP I believe I mean he he walked in uh and intercepted Nate Johnson I mean he's bringing an edge to this defense as well um a defense that badly needs some some Swagger a little bit and he is AB absolutely outstanding just all over the field and I think schematically Clark Lee is going to be able to use that to his advantage and be able to place him around around the defense so I'm I'm excited to see what he does what he adds to it I think there's an element of you know when you have a guy like that that can make plays in The Run game that can step into the flat and pick one off or um whatever the coverage may be can step in front of a ball and and defend it whether he's intercepting it knocking away whatever creating creating a turnover um taking the ball away whatever the case may be if you have a guy like that that puts a little bit of a psychologically that puts a little bit of a Fear Factor into the opposing offense they're like okay um where's fet uh okay where okay so every every day every game plan session they have they're going to be like okay we got to find font net all right so this play all right font Net's going to likely here or we get in this set we can get fet over here like he become he starts to become a v focal point of the game plans right whereas originally it was like okay where's where's CJ Taylor okay Patterson there's not really much you can do they're just okay how can we get how can we get lineman up to Patterson with uh without him being being a star but like defensive backs you kind of have to be a little bit more creative and scheming for them and Vanderbilt right now has three safeties that I think is going to be problems uh to to be able to scheme against and that CJ Taylor Dicky right uh Randon font that actually Four I I lied four four safeties that you have to be like oh boy we have to do something about these guys uh Dante Carter being the fourth guy but um this is going to be fun to kind of see how how this develops and what this how this affects the way Clark Le calls the defense and how it affects him putting Personnel out there because if he leaves nickel personnel with Randon fet it means that he thinks that even in run situations Randon fonet is good enough to come closer to the line of scrimmage so I'm really excited about that um so but before we get out of here some other def some other defensive notes right um as Clark Ley is just desperately actually not desperately but as he is um wholeheartedly Clinging On to this defensive coordinator responsibility um he's loving every minute of this by the way but uh you know you have cord sidor um is just a pure energy guy I've talked about him talked about him talked about him he's going to be somebody that emerges that where you have you have to worry about him game planning uh Jaylen Ruth is somebody as as an edge player that's coming on he's he's a little bit faster probably a little bit more explosive than corday sidor uh sidor would probably be more of an end and uh Jaylen Ruth is more of an edge and there's difference uh Zen wood Darren auu um they're they're having they're starting to have some good camps they're going to be uh they're going to be kind of um molding along that defensive line as well I I think with the defensive line what I'm noticing is there's a lot of guys that are contributing um in different ways and it's going to be kind of rotational and there's going to be some some good some good stuff with that um I think pass rush is going to continue to improve they're still trying to get used to who who's going to be the primary guys um and then you know I think there's some there's some room uh for growth as well as they kind of get used to um his uh you know Clark ley's style so um defensive tackle is going to be you're never gonna you're not really gonna ever have a guy that's just like he is the guy right you're never really gonna have that um but you're going to have guys in there that that fit in like Al Alara uh Bradley mans aen wood Deon Lee De Marian Thomas like those guys are going to kind of rotate through a little bit anas D Cosmo Darren agu cord sidor zus zus zunk um are going to be that as well so like you're gonna have more of like a defensive end and then you're gonna have like more of like a smaller tackle like if you go odd front as the four techniques so I think you have your big big dude uh razor miles Capers diak a jayen Ruth that's your Edge position um and that's the guy guys that are really kind of taking care of the Run game from the outside and putting pressure on the quarterback um the inside linebackers are phenomenal right now uh Longwell and Patterson are in the front seat uh with CN and colie uh next in line and these these guys are freaking animals right now and this is uh this is great to to see kind of how they're developing uh they're going to kind of lead the way because this defensive line is going to give them opportunities to do so and then the secondary we we we've Ted talked um we've talked a lot about the secondary um a lot about the safeties but Colby Taylor and Tyson Russell right now are are kind of the The Front Runners at the corners with with Martel height and trudel Barry as the as the next two um with taco right kind of being that wild card in there so but anyway uh there's a big scrimmage on Saturday um that's going to be that's going to tell a lot of the story uh offensively and defensively this is going to be your first big test to see kind of where everybody is um you kind of hope that um you kind of hope that it's a stalemate both sides do a lot of really good things uh which means you're progressing in the right direction for both sides uh it's you know you don't want one side to dominate the other because it's usually at the detriment of the other side so hope for a good report hope guys are not injured um and uh hope to get a lot of good work and a lot of answers out of that but for now we're going to leave you um and uh we'll see you back here on Monday so have a great weekend we'll see you back here Monday locked on Vandy behave yourselves enjoy the scrimmage anchor down