Vanderbilt Football Position Preview Series: Quarterbacks

welcome back to the VY Sports podcast alongside Joey dwire I'm Billy Derek we are on West End football season is just under a month away Joey getting set for Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech July August 31st actually July is over but we're beginning our position preview series and we're starting with the quarterbacks we'll be releasing these uh probably twice a week sort of thing um obviously we're going to start offensively with the quarterbacks Joey we got a lot different room this year totally different room totally different skill sets Diego Pavia comes over from New Mexico State Nate Johnson from Utah who's not as experienced of course as Nate Johnson but as Diego papia but a lot of talent in his own right and then you've got burwitz blae burwitz from New Mexico State as well Drew Dicky who's been here the the sort of the veteran at Vanderbilt in the room per se and then a couple of freshmen uh that we've talked about a good bit but obviously won't factor in a whole lot this year but as a whole how does this quarterback room feel different uh than last season and what can we expect just stylistically because this is a totally different room uh talent-wise skill set wise than we saw last year for sure I think that's the biggest thing to me is just the kind of skill sets they've recruited is much different Diego Pavia obviously a lot different than the guys they had last year with AJ Swan and Ken seals those guys couldn't really move the pocket couldn't really run for themselves Diego Pavia ran for a ton of yards last year Nate Johnson would have if he started every game for Utah he probably is the fastest guy in the room really their quarterback room is way different than it was last year but I think it fits what they want to do and what they want to do I think is a lot better for Vanderbilt specifically than what they did last year and that's my source of optimism for the offense is that they're better suited in terms of what they have and what they're doing uh than they were in previous years you look at the skill sets Diego Pavia I don't know if he has the strongest arm in the room I think he's one of the better processors in the room he knows the game he's been around it he's a leader I think that's strong candidate to win the job I would say heading into Camp probably had the leg up in my mind knows Tim Beck knows the scheme knows Jerry Hill he's been Tim Beck's guy forever right Nate Johnson though I thought got better as the spring went on um I think today was really good relative to what I had seen from him so I think Nate Johnson probably out of the room has the highest ceiling I think he's probably the most talented guy they have pby obviously the arm strength to question um hasn't performed at some games against Power five teams Nate Johnson has done it so it is interesting for me to see that competition I think it's a little closer than people would imagine I think people are willing to write off pav as the starter I'm not quite there yet the other two guys are in the mix I don't know that they're as stronger candidates Dicky I think uh has really good processing ability uh I don't know if he makes 100% of the throws that they need him to make burwitz I think held on to it a little bit too long at times and the throwing motion concerns me a little bit but man he can really make the throws and then the Freshman talented guys as well I think both of them are better quarterbacks recruit better quarterback recruits than they've gotten in the past so I think it's a deeper room and you say that about a lot of these rooms but I think maybe they don't have the top end I think that's still wait and see for me that they've had under Clark Ley but I think it's a deeper room than he's had and uh I feel decent about it relative to kind of how I thought I'd feel about it going into the ball yeah my thing is the quarterbacks last year didn't seem to fit totally what Joey Lynch and the offense wanted to do neither did the the rece neither did the offensive line nothing ever truly meshed together this year it feels like there's more cohesion now quarterback to receiver needs needs some work today was better but I just think between Tim Beck Jerry Hill what they want to do offensively works better this season with the quarterbacks they have as opposed to what they wanted to do last year that to me is the biggest thing I mean we were watching a drill earlier today they're practicing option pitches never did that last year right they were in a circle quarterbacks were tossing it back to each other I mean working on option pitches So that obviously is something that you know before fall camp and even Spring ball even started we had talked about probably gonna see some of that Diego Pavia did that at New Mexico State Nate Johnson did a little bit of I mean it's easy to see you can turn on the tape and watch that you saw some speed options with Nate Johnson you saw some options and a lot of different things with with Diego Pavia and Tim back at Mexico state but the AL the level of of toughness as well like last year Swan was not a proven commodity right I mean played a little bit a year before but you know there wasn't anything you could really hang your hat on as okay here's exactly what we're getting this year right this year you've got that in Diego Pavia he has put three four pretty good years of college football together specifically last year and even the year before that um at New Mexico state and Nate Johnson not as proven but maybe the most talented guy in the room right just pure speed I mean we've seen in the new video game he's the fastest quarterback in the game I think and not that that actually matters but I mean that tells you his speed and quickness is a weapon so we talked about this today and this is just conjecture but Joey I would not be surprised if you see a little bit of Pavia and Johnson in at the same time right and that's real not even really based off what I've seen in Fall Camp that's just like looking at the past with these two guys and Tim Beck's past as well like when you talk about this room you have to talk about Tim Beck and what he's done uh in his past as well as as a longtime head coach and with Jerry Hill as well so I like how you mentioned the mental side of it as well with Pavia feels like he processes things well um especially so far in Fall Camp may not have the strongest sexiest arm but he's got the mental intangibles I think and we know his physical toughness um I think Johnson maybe has to develop that a little bit more the those mental intangibles especially when we talk about familiarity with the offense but I mean you can't go wrong with with Pavia and Johnson um either way it's just which guy steps up right I mean this is a very important next uh next four weeks or so yeah I think those are my two in the competition and Clark Ley did say it's anyone's ball so there's going to be four guys kind of in the mix I think the freshman their reps are pretty indicative of where they're going to be I don't think they're going to get a whole lot of them and I don't think they're gonna be guys who get on the field much if at all this year it's gonna be Dicky it's gonna be berl it's gonna be Johnson it's gonna Pavia and I've got Johnson and pavi as the two guys kind of leading the competition they couldn't really be more different Billy Johnson I think yeah obviously not as proven like you said but super talented looks the part pav doesn't look the part as much but mentally see to be all there and I'm not saying Johnson isn't but javia is the guy who is clearly a leader for them he's clearly a guy that uh they want to have their other guys feed off of and I think if one of them can just be good enough and with their arm and can throw it uh and distribute and then take advantage of their legs they've got a chance to have a better offense than they did last year and I guess it's not that hard to have a better offense than they did last year but I do think this fits better and I do have some op that they could be more productive and I think it helps that both of them are here together um we talk about some of the potential negatives well what if Pavia you know overtakes the the starting job and how does that make Nate Johnson feel well as a coach you can't think about that you got to think about the positives well what about having PV and Johnson in the same formation or you know there's some positives to build on with them both here as well and I think if you're Vanderbilt you have to look at that um and competition breeds character these guys are going to get better too in this room um so I think that is something we can't forget about like if Johnson wasn't here or vice versa you know if pavio wasn't here and it was just Johnson and then berwitz and then Dicky maybe you don't see as much improvement these next three or four weeks as as you would have so I think that competition really does help uh but man it's going to be interesting because you can't sleep on burwitz and dicki because at times here in the last couple days I know it's still early have have looked good um and the offense as a whole looked better today so the receivers are extremely important to these quarterbacks as well I know we're GNA talk about the receivers later but these quarterbacks have like Pavia hasn't gotten a ton of time in with fungi Skinner and the other receivers Nate Johnson has a little bit more um but even fungi wasn't at Spring ball right so these next three four weeks to me Joey how do these quarterbacks build that Rapport uh is going to be really important as well yeah I think Johnson has gotten a lot better since I first saw him here I just obviously can't give many specifics but I feel like he is better uh than when I first saw him is kind of ascended and I think that's a positive sign for vanderville because if all goes right he could be a really good quarterback for you and that's how I feel with him I higher on him than most I think just because looks apart seems to have the armed Talent can really run has another gear that nobody else on the team or at least in the quarterback room really has Diego Pavia though proven commodity at least at a lower level he's had one good game against the power five opponents so that's another question for me about him is you know is it a consistent thing or was it kind of just a one-off game and I think the schemes are more of a consistent thing than the skill sets we've seen from their guys those guys have to prove it at the power five level so we'll see but those are my two guys and uh I think it's a little closer than we would think it's close it's close and and I think the consensus is what you just said Johnson and Pavia but you've got berwitz and Dicky right there behind him competing as well and a couple of pretty talented freshmen so um that'll do it for the quarterbacks uh coming up next what what do you say running backs running backs we running backs we'll do we'll do running backs first with our position preview series that's Joey dwire I'm Billy Derek thanks for checking out another episode of the Vandy Sports podcast