Rece Davis on Thomas Castellanos ahead of Alabama vs. Vanderbilt: 'He's not as good as Diego Pavia'

Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos caught a stray from ESPN analyst Rece Davis on Wednesday. While discussing the upcoming matchup between Alabama and Vanderbilt on the College GameDay Podcast, Davis said Castellanos isn’t as good as Commodores QB Diego Pavia.

“[Vanderbilt is] really good. I also feel like this is their first real test,” Davis said. “They haven’t played a strong offense. They haven’t seen anything like what they’re going to see from Alabama. I anticipate this being a pretty high scoring game.

“Now, Alabama’s got good defensive pieces, but if you looked at the difficulty that Alabama had against Tommy Castellanos, getting him on the ground. Castellanos is good, and I don’t mean to throw shade at him at all, he’s not as good as Diego Pavia. And I don’t think he is as quite as elusive, as crafty. Pavia has improved this year as a pure passer.”

Castellanos would surely disagree. He boasts 848 passing yards and four touchdowns, compared to three interceptions this season. Most notably, Castellanos is a serious threat in the ground game. He has 217 rushing yards and four scores in the 2025 campaign.

Castellanos received nationwide recognition when he led Florida State to a stunning win over Alabama in Week 1. Alas, based on statistics alone, Pavia has had a more consistent season.

Pavia has tallied 1,211 passing yards and 13 touchdowns this season, while only throwing three interceptions. He also has more total rushing yards than Castellanos. Rece Davis expects Pavia to only add to his résumé this weekend against Alabama.

“I don’t know that [Alabama is] particularly well equipped to deal with the secondary play if the first one breaks down,” Davis said. “They really got cut up a year ago on the option-based plays and the variations off the options, and does that change? You don’t see it a lot. You can’t really replicate it in practice, at least not to the same level of expertise and speed.

“In addition to coming off of the emotional win over Georgia — and I know Alabama will be more ready emotionally this time — they may have some matchup problems when Vanderbilt has the ball, especially. Vanderbilt is definitely going to have some matchup problems when Alabama has it, but I think that is going to cut both ways.”

If Diego Pavia can’t lead his Commodores to a win on Saturday, perhaps Castellanos will have something to say to Davis. The Crimson Tide and Commodores will square off at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.