Not only should we see Diego Pavia's name when the Heisman Trophy finalists are announced on Monday, but we should also be hearing his name next Saturday night when the winner is announced. He does not have a championship game to play in this week and will not be in the College Football Playoff field, but what he has done this season should lead to several awards next week.
Just look at what he has done to transform Vanderbilt since he arrived in Nashville. Of course, he became a household name when he led the Commodores to the huge upset over Alabama last season and has become an even bigger star in 2025 in a season where Vandy ended the 2025 season with a 10-2 record including blowing out rival Tennessee last Saturday which seemed to serve as his Heisman moment.
He has passed for over 3,100 yards with 27 passing touchdowns. In addition to his passing numbers, he has run for over 800 yards and added nine touchdowns on the ground. The numbers may not exactly jump off the page compared to other past quarterback Heisman winners, but what you cannot ignore is what he means to Vanderbilt Football.
Does anybody believe the Commodores are 10-2 this season without him being the quarterback? He has turned into a college football superstar in a season where there has not really been any. Obviously, the two front-runners, Fernando Mendoza and Julian Sayin, go head-to-head Saturday in the Big Ten Championship Game.
When a quarterback is chosen for this award, it seems that it requires that player to be the leader of one of the top teams in America. You get that with Mendoza and Sayin, who, of course, play for Indiana and Ohio State, but there is more to it than that.
Mendoza has had an amazing season after transferring from Cal, which has led the Hoosiers to their best season in program history. They are new to the world of being a football powerhouse, but on the verge of making their second straight college football playoff that it is more Curt Cignetti's system than an individual player. That may be an unfair assessment, considering how good a season he has had, but I feel the Hoosiers would be a playoff team even if he were not their quarterback, as we saw with a lesser player in Kurtis Rourke last season.
Freshman Julian Sayin has continued the success of quarterbacks before him, leading the Buckeyes to an undefeated regular season, finally beating Michigan, and one game away from being the number one seed in this year's playoff. Many seem to think that Ohio State is primed to win back-to-back titles, but again, I feel like they would be in that position whether he was the quarterback or not.
Sayin has been one of the most efficient quarterbacks in America, and his stats are on an elite level, with over 3,000 passing yards and over 30 touchdowns during the regular season. However, to me, if we are going to give the Heisman to a Buckeye, it would make the most sense to give it to sophomore phenom Jeremiah Smith, who has over 1,300 yards and has caught half of Sayin's touchdown passes.
The Heisman voters will probably go with easy pick and awarding the winning QB of the Big Ten Championship game, but if we are looking beyond the quarterback on the best team in America Pavia should run away with the award. He has completely changed the culture at Vanderbilt which is even more important than what he has done on the field. No longer do people think Vandy is a guaranteed win, but what Pavia has helped build in Nashville has allowed five-star QB recruit to pick the Commodores over the Georgia Bulldogs. This is a move before yesterday nobody thought would ever be seen on a signing day and it is because of what Diego Pavia has turned this program into.