Diego Pavia praises Malachi Moore for outburst apology, passion

Emotions got the best of Malachi Moore during Alabama‘s loss to Vanderbilt. The fifth-year player had multiple instances where frustrations boiled over, with one including Diego Pavia. A move Moore has taken responsibility for and apologized to Pavia.

During his Wednesday appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show, Pavia revealed Moore reached out to him via Instagram to apologize for the moment. The Vanderbilt quarterback seemingly has no ill will toward Moore and says mistakes happen in the heat of the moment.

Pavia was also complimentary of what Moore does on the field, believing he will be a huge part of what Alabama does moving forward.

“He reached out to me on Instagram and texted me,” Pavia said. “He apologized for what he did. I can respect that. I respect him, he’s a great football player. He wants to win at all costs. That’s things we need on our football team here at Vanderbilt.

“That guy is a special player, he made a lot of tackles, made a lot of plays. The future is bright for him. I wish him nothing but success, God Bless him. Everyone makes mistakes but nobody should hold that over his head. He’s a great player and he’s going to be great for Alabama.”

Moore spoke on the matter with the media on Tuesday, revealing his exact message. Based on what Moore said about the full interaction, what Pavia said on SEC Network holds true.

“Just let him know ‘my bad’” Malachi Moore said. “Just let the game get away from me. He hit me back so we’re cool.”

The moment between Moore and Pavia took place in Saturday’s fourth quarter. Moore took Pavia down after a first down was gained before grabbing the quarterback’s head and slamming it into the ground. A clip of the incident went viral on social media.

Thankfully, apologies have been issued and there is no bad blood between Moore and Pavia. In fact, there is nothing but respect between the two after a highly-competitive game.