Diego Pavia claims he would ‘bite an ear off’ for a national championship

Diego Pavia is standing on business ahead of the 2025 college football season. The Vanderbilt quarterback has a mountain to climb if he wants to deliver a national title to Nashville, but he’s willing to do some extraordinary things for one.

During an appearance on Bussin’ With The Boys, Pavia claimed he would go Mike Tyson mode to bring the Commodores to the pinnacle of the sport: “I’d bite an ear off to win a national championship,” the quarterback stated. “… That natty is going to be mine.”

He took it even further when pressed about his comment. Pavia added that he would cut his own ear off for a title. He’d even cut off his manhood. Whatever it takes. That’s how much love the quarterback has for Vanderbilt.

Now, hopefully it doesn’t come to that. If Pavia has an incredible run and leads Vanderbilt to an unlikely national title, hopefully he’ll have both ears, and everything will be fine beneath the belt. If not, it’ll have been worth it in his eyes, at least.

Regardless, Pavia isn’t short on confidence for 2025 in Nashville. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, as he’s become one of the more charismatic players in all of college football.

It wasn’t always guaranteed that he’d be playing this season though. It’ll be Pavia’s sixth season of collegiate eligibility, after a Tennessee district court judge granted him a preliminary injunction against the NCAA enforcing eligibility restrictions for seasons spent at the junior college level.

His extensive collegiate career began with a two-year stint at New Mexico Military Institute, a junior college, before transferring to New Mexico State. That’s where he played two seasons, before following then-Aggies head coach Jerry Kill to Vanderbilt for the 2024 season.

In Nashville, Pavia led the Commodores with 2,293 passing yards and 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions this past season. He added 801 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.

He was truly the driving force behind Vanderbilt’s incredible 2024 season. Now, we’ll see what he has in store for an encore. The Commodores start off with some easier opponents at the beginning of the season, but the SEC gauntlet will be tough as always.

One thing is for sure, Diego Pavia isn’t taking his final season of college football lightly, and it’s evident he believes he owes a great debt to Vanderbilt. We’ll see if he can repay the program with a national title this season. What a story that would wind up being.