Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia: From Walk-On to Hero

you start your career as a walk-on at Community College yeah know we uh out of high school I had like division 2 offers un M never like really gave me a real shot um Mexico State they were terrible never gave me a shot and then so I was like you know I'm I'm going to go to Junior College um walked on no scholarship I remember my mom paid $427 exactly and I was like I was like all right this is the last time you're ever going to pay for me and so went out there true story I was playing tight end out there using like T me tight end quarterback running back receiver playing everything like under the sun and then um one day and I was better than these these other guys but they just had more hype than me and so they put me in at quarterback I'm doing good um they're like you know what you're it was going into the week starting week they're like you're thirding I'm like how am I third you know what I mean I was third string on this team and uh before that ear in a scholarship though but I was third string they were going to use me all over the place first string quarterbacks been messing up all week second Stringer goes in he messes up they put me in I go in and I ball uh first first game we go we go down we score we're up like 107 and then uh they come back and me and this kid are switching off drives and they would never score with him and then I I finally just took over um second year we won The Natty coach kill I remember the phone call Coach kill called me he was like he has this weird voice he's like hey son give me a call back when you can and he left it on he left it on voicemail so I pulled over I knew I thought they were going to offer me right then and there um actually before the Natty game they offered the kid on the other team no way the other quarterback and so I was like damn like I can't catch a break you know anyway go up have like 194 passing like 50 rushing three touchdowns have a good day um our running back was really good so they had like USC offered him Nebraska offered him so everyone was watching that game had a good game end up getting a call two days later when I was back home working out call Coach killed back he's like hey hey son we're going to offer you full scholarship we'll see you down here and it it was like late so like I had to get down there I think I had like a week to decide whether I was going to Jackson State or New Mexico State Jackson State at the time had Dion and shadur Sanders and and they were like you're not playing over my son you know so I like I'm I'm going to New Mexico state in and out the starting lineup first year we're one of five we're down at halftime against UMass they putul me back in and ever since then like I just never look back started one and five but still made a ball game yeah the hype train kind of started for you in that bowl game actually CU that was kind of the first time that you were able to get National exposure because all eyes were on you that day yeah the Liberty game we were oh yeah like 20 what was it 28 point underdogs yeah like 28 29 Point underdogs we went in there and blew them out 49 to like seven yeah that I think that one's the one to probably put you on the map for real yeah cuz you had like what like six touchdowns or something like that yeah had three rushing three passing and yeah like 350 total kind of what was the mindset going in do you remember that day CU they were they're a highly touted team yeah I remember that I remember after UMass I think we played mzo or something like that we were catch trying to catch a flow didn't really have anything and then it was like like I was like sh I ain't got nothing to lose you know what I mean like I'm going just go out there do what I do and just play football how I played when I was a little kid and like I would bust all the time I would forget motions I would forget the routes on the outside and then it just started all kind of clicking then I was able to play fast and uh coach Beck made it simple for me too that that day and he was just like run it deep if no one's open just take off and so that's what I did was it kind of being such a massive Underdog that kind of let everybody kind of let all of the structure go to a degree and just say hey like if we're going to win this game you got to go do what you're going to go do best yeah no no one was no one was tense but they knew this was like if we wanted a bowl game it was a must- win you know what I mean so it was just we had to win that game missou was missou was tough um if we would have caught a few balls in the first quarter against missou but now Liberty we had them off the rip they were it was cooked and then they got us back twice though so shout out to them