Before Vanderbilt, Diego Pavia starred at Volcano Vista (N.M.)

Of the four finalists for the 2025 Heisman Trophy Award, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia almost unequivocally came into the college scene with the least amount of stardom coming out of high school.

Before ever starring on the college football stage, Pavia started out playing his high school days at Volcano Vista out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, that’s where Pavia’s legend began as the current college football star was then a three-sport athlete in high school, playing football, baseball, and wrestling.

What helped give Pavia a chance to land at a junior college out of high school is what he was able to accomplish in his senior season for the Hawks. In his senior campaign for Volcano Vista, Pavia would finish completing 108 of 165 passes for 1,485 yards and 14 touchdowns. Looking to model his game similarly to that of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, Pavia showed off his wheels and rushed for 464 yards and nine touchdowns.

It wasn’t just accomplishing the individual achievements, but making sure that Volcano Vista was able to stand toe-to-toe with whoever in the state of New Mexico as Pavia led the Hawks to a 11-1 record and a berth in the NMAA Class 6A state semifinals.

After his high school days, Pavia went on to wrestle, where the quarterback won a state championship and also played on the baseball team.

With interest only coming from Division II and junior colleges, Pavia played at the New Mexico Military Institute before joining New Mexico State, where he spent two seasons. In Pavia’s time with the Aggies, the quarterback threw for 4,423 passing yards, 39 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions. The dual-threat quarterback finished the 2023 campaign with 928 rushing yards on the ground and seven more scores.

Now the 5-foot-11, 205-pound quarterback with all that said has a chance to go from his days at Volcano Vista High School to Saturday night walking into Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room in New York City and coming away with the prestigious Heisman Trophy in hand.

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