If the Tennessee football team was looking for some extra motivation to take down Vanderbilt this fall, quarterback Diego Pavia just provided it. This offseason, the veteran QB, back for a fifth season, hasn't held back with his trash talk.
This was once again the case when asked about the state of Tennessee as a whole and college sports. In Pavia's eyes, Vanderbilt is going to be the 'it' school in the state moving forward and the Vols are going to take a back seat to the Commodores. Is this kid being serious right now?
NEW: Diego Pavia says Vandy will run Tennessee after this season⚓️⬇️
— On3 (@On3sports) June 17, 2025
“This is gonna be the new staple of college football. It’s going to happen here at Vanderbilt.”
(via @BussinWTB) https://t.co/BSThEqrD9x pic.twitter.com/LEFizW0Q8j
Diego Pavia has given Tennessee plenty of bulletin-board material
"Vanderbilt's going to run Tennessee after this year," Pavia said with confidence on the Bussin' With the Boys Podcast. "Like this is going to be the new staple of like college football, it's going to happen here at Vanderbilt."
Pavia didn't stop there, as he also said, "Everyone wants to come to Tennessee because of Nashville. So they want to come to Nashville... Vanderbilt. And then when we have like the most money in NIL, why not come here? We literally just have to win this year and it will take care of itself."
While we can admire Pavia's confidence, has he forgotten that the Tennessee brand carries a lot more weight than Vanderbilt's? Has he forgotten that in the last year, the Vols baseball team won the CWS, Josh Heupel and Co. reached the College Football Playoff, the men's and women's basketball teams went on deep March Madness runs and more?
Time and time again, Tennessee has proven to be an everything school. What in the world has Vanderbilt gotten done? Last season, Pavia was chirping quite a bit during the showdown with the Vols in Nashville, but Tennessee ended up posting a 36-23 victory.
Come late November, Pavia and Vandy will be making the trip to Knoxville for what should be a fun showdown. This time around, Joey Aguilar (most likely) will lead the offense out onto the field and he's going to want to put on a show against the in-state rival. The Vols as a whole will look to make Pavia eat his words.