Diego Pavia is now a commodity. Test that — an empire in case you depend the very fact his lawyer lives in Puerto Rico.
“It’s an unbelievable place to reside with an enormous group of expats, entrepreneurial spirit and good tax benefits,” Ryan Downton informed CBS Sports activities.
These kind of issues matter now. As of December, we thought Pavia’s story had ended. Vanderbilt’s quarterback accomplished a colourful, inspiring profession by main the Commodores to a seven-win season, its first above .500 since James Franklin left 12 years in the past.
After 5 years and three packages, Pavia was off to the NFL. Or, so he hoped.
“Shoot, I would wish to assume I used to be most likely the most effective quarterback within the nation if I used to be popping out this yr,” he mentioned.
However there was extra at work on this story than hopes and goals. In November, Pavia sued the NCAA for an additional yr of eligibility. The shock waves from the results of that lawsuit are nonetheless being felt. Pavia simply may be on the chopping fringe of a brand new eligibility mannequin as CBS Sports activities detailed final month.
Downton had initially approached the quarterback the day earlier than the epic upset of Alabama on Oct. 5. The veteran lawyer had a proper and the flexibility to hunt out this distinctive consumer. Downton was a Vandy cheerleader whereas pursuing his undergrad diploma within the enterprise faculty. It occurred to him that Pavia deserved an additional yr of eligibility regardless of a winding profession that started at New Mexico Navy Institute and migrated to New Mexico State earlier than a switch to Vanderbilt.
The swimsuit states that Pavia’s eligibility clock beginning in junior school (at NMMI) violated anti-trust legal guidelines. It argues, in essence, that the restriction denied the quarterback of a chance at extra NIL advantages. The choose who ordered the injunction agreed and estimated Pavia might earn $1 million in NIL advantages due to his further yr. A month after the swimsuit was filed, a Tennessee choose issued a preliminary restraining order permitting Pavia that further yr of eligibility, his sixth.
The quarterback identified for his emotion reacted accordingly.
“This may be life altering,” Pavia informed CBS Sports activities. “I really like this metropolis, the folks in it.”
That is the place the commodity a part of the 5-foot-8, 210-pounder from Albuquerque is available in. Pavia has a crew past the one within the locker room. You are most likely not going to imagine this, however the sixth-year quarterback of a Energy 4 program within the SEC doesn’t have a lot of an NIL presence in any respect.
“Small partnership with Slim Chickens,” Megan Curry talked about.
Curry is the founding father of AthleteZ PR, a public relations agency that advertises itself as “a powerhouse for GenZ”. Final week, Pavia turned one of many company’s latest shoppers. Neither aspect can wait. There may be going to be a large offseason rollout of Pavia as a model.
Curry has already lectured her consumer concerning the uncommon air he’s about to enter. Only one% of soccer gamers actually receives a commission. The intent is to elbow his technique to the entrance of the pack a lot the way in which Cinderellas do throughout March Insanity. If Pavia performs it proper this season, he might set himself up for years whether or not the NFL comes calling or not.
Name it Diego Over America. His empire awaits his arrival.
“Diego is an enigma,” Curry mentioned. “Diego is that this child who got here and took the Music Metropolis by storm. His vitality is infectious. His perspective is above and past constructive. He will get unhealthy press. There’s lots of people on the market … parallel pathing him to Johnny Manziel. This child cannot be farther from it.”
Apart from apparently peeing on New Mexico’s brand within the Lobos’ indoor facility in 2023, Pavia hasn’t been a controversial determine.
“It is actually, actually humbling to listen to this child converse versus celebrating with cash hand indicators in an finish zone,” Curry mentioned.
Largely ignored out of Volcano Vista Excessive Faculty, he performed two years at NMMI and gained a JUCO nationwide championship. New Mexico State gained 10 video games for the primary time in 60 years with Pavia. The quarterback then adopted his NMSU coach Jerry Kill to Vanderbilt.
“He is bought a confidence. It is not cocky or smug, however I can see the way it would possibly come throughout like that for somebody who would not know him,” mentioned Joe Forchtner, Pavia’s junior school coach. “However he is so certain of his talents, and it is so contagious to his teammates.”
Armed with an additional yr, Pavia’s affect within the Nashville group is rising after he blew up on the sector (3,100 yards from scrimmage, 28 complete touchdowns in 2024). Curry is trying ahead to a coming phase on the quarterback in a Netflix documentary on the SEC.
“After I moved right here three years in the past, you could not discover a Vanderbilt flag on the cabinets,” Curry mentioned. “They weren’t promoting them. Now you drive down the road and all these persons are popping up Vanderbilt flags left and proper. He is grow to be the highest of the dialog.”
Curry not too long ago sat down along with her new consumer in a type of come-to-(advertising and marketing)-Jesus second.
Fast, title three stuff you need to accomplish this remaining season.
“‘I’ll win the Heisman,'” Curry recalled Pavia saying, “‘I’ll get my crew to the Faculty Soccer Playoff, and I’ll at all times deal with my mom.’
“This child actually thinks all of that is going to go down.”
The injunction led to the NCAA issuing a blanket waiver for 2025-26 for former junior school athletes in an identical place as Pavia. The waiver doesn’t apply to all former JUCO gamers, simply these whose eligibility is expiring. Different athletes, together with Tennessee baseball participant Alberto Osuna in the identical state the place Pavia gained his ruling, haven’t been as lucky.
The NCAA is interesting Pavia’s lawsuit whereas on the identical time granting the waiver. However judging by latest historical past, the results of Pavia’s motion could grow to be everlasting. The NCAA has been pressured by courts in a number of latest conditions to considerably modify its guidelines. The affiliation solely reacted on NIL advantages themselves after the Supreme Courtroom dominated towards it in Alston.
“So long as NCAA has guidelines that really feel arbitrary, they are going to maintain getting challenged,” Downton mentioned.
Whereas awaiting a ruling on his lawsuit in December, Pavia informed this to The Tennessean:
“There’s some huge cash to be made in school soccer, simply due to how a lot income is coming in. There’s lots of people right here [Vanderbilt] who work additional time, too.”
The Pavia motion is not precisely a one-off for him, however Downton says he sometimes pursues “well being care and safety fraud stuff … that take years to resolve.”
This one already has the potential to form eligibility requirements going ahead.
“I’ve bought familiarity with the NCAA. They have familiarity with me, which makes it simpler to get their consideration and get folks to take you significantly,” Downton mentioned.
As talked about, this explicit pursuit is private. As a cheerleader and a fan, there have been some down occasions for Vandy within the Nineteen Nineties.
“It was a problem,” Downton recalled. “On the identical time, [it was] finest coaching desk within the nation, in response to Sports activities Illustrated. There was nice camaraderie. Cheerleaders have been a part of the athletic division then.”
With school soccer on the point of subdivide in case you learn the symptoms, Vanderbilt would not intend to be left behind. The college is the center of a large services/stadium improve. It makes some sort of cosmic sense, then, that Pavia — the athlete, model and commodity — is now pursuing a grasp’s diploma in … Authorized Research.
“I need to go to the league, however the most effective factor for me is to get one other yr within the SEC, the most effective [conference] in school soccer,” the quarterback mentioned. “And do one thing that is by no means been finished right here at Vanderbilt.”
