Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia shared new details about the Commodores‘ successful 2024 season, including his relationship with his backup QB, Nate Johnson, while appearing on the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast on June 16.
Talking with hosts Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, Pavia discussed his path from New Mexico State to Nashville, and his many NIL offers that came after the Commodores’ breakout season among other topics.
Here’s three things we learned from Pavia’s appearance on the podcast.
Diego Pavia shares NIL offer details and earnings at New Mexico State, Vanderbilt
While at New Mexico State, Pavia said he was paid $1,400 per month in NIL deals. That number grew quickly after a successful season with the Aggies in 2023.
“Coming from New Mexico State, these other schools were offering me cars, houses and big-time money,” Pavia said. “I would have stayed at New Mexico State for $100,000. At Vandy, the quarterback they had just brought in, they paid him way over $100,000. They offered me $150,000. But I didn’t know any different, I was going from $1,400 a month to $100,000.
“Sign me up.”
Pavia also shared that he doesn’t handle the finances he’s made from NIL directly.
“I give it all to my mom,” Pavia said. “I’ve never touched a dime of my NIL (money).”
Diego Pavia declined $4 million NIL offer to stay at Vanderbilt
Following a successful year at Vanderbilt, Pavia said many schools reached out about transferring. Pavia revealed he had offers ranging from between $4-4.5 million to play for other schools, including at least one in the SEC.
But Pavia never wavered, saying he wanted to stay at Vanderbilt for other reasons.
“The offers were great, but winning is more important to me than anything,” Pavia said. “You’ve got (assistant) coach (Jerry) Kill and coach (offensive coordinator Tim) Beck relying on you to come back. It’s all a money game. You’ve got other schools offering you $4 million, and (Vanderbilt) doesn’t want to pay you $4 million, but (Vanderbilt) took a chance on me, so I understand that.”
Pavia relayed that Vanderbilt said they could pay him $4 million, but would rather spend that money on new players from the transfer portal.
“They told me they could pay me ($4 million), but we wouldn’t have enough money to go get these guys. And it just made sense to me. I value winning over anything else.”
Diego Pavia had strained relationship with former Vanderbilt QB Nate Johnson
Heading into the 2024 season, Pavia was in competition with quarterback Nate Johnson for the starting job at Vanderbilt. Johnson, a transfer from Utah, was the likely starter that spring, but Pavia said he knew immediately he would win the job over Johnson.
“I knew (Beck)” Pavia said. “He never put (me or Johnson) above the other, but I knew I was going to win the job. Other people thought maybe the other kid was going to win. But when you turn on the tape, it was night and day.”
Pavia described his relationship with Johnson as having “competitive friction” and recounted a story involving an off-color joke as an example.
“One time I cracked a joke, maybe an inappropriate joke, and he loved it. But that was when he was projected to start,” Pavia said. “I cracked the same joke when I was the starter and he texted the coaches about it saying, ‘Hey that was an inappropriate joke by him, he needs to say he’s sorry.’ I had to call him and he said, ‘Bro, that was not cool.’ “
The joke in question was of a sexual nature about Johnson’s girlfriend. Johnson has since transferred back to Utah.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia says he declined $4 million NIL to return