Diego Pavia opens up on NIL negotiation at Vanderbilt, whether he considered leaving

In late December, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia secured a preliminary injunction which granted him an extra year of eligibility. He then quickly announced he’d be back with the Commodores, providing a big boost for Clark Lea and Co.

Pavia “never flirted” with leaving Vanderbilt after one year, he told Will Compton and Taylor Lewan on Bussin’ with the Boys. He confirmed he received plenty of interest – including an NIL deal worth more than $4 million from an unnamed SEC program – but opted to stay.

Pavia still went through negotiations at Vanderbilt and although he didn’t necessarily get the $4 million he could have gotten via the transfer portal, he still expressed confidence in the Commodores’ roster. That’s why he said it came down to winning.

“The number’s great,” Pavia said of his negotiations at VU. “The numbers are great. But winning is more important to me than anything. And we’ve got the squad to go do it.”

Diego Pavia: ‘It’s all a money game’

As he sought a preliminary injunction to get one more year of eligibility at Vanderbilt, Diego Pavia argued he had upward of $1 million at stake. His $1.6 million On3 NIL Valuation – fueled by a $1.4 million roster value – ranks No. 28 in the college football NIL rankings.

Pavia addressed the balancing act necessary in negotiations for a new deal. He pointed out conversations with Jerry Kill and offensive coordinator Tim Beck about why it’s important for him to return, but acknowledging $4 million could stretch the budget thin. But with a plan in place to build the roster, Pavia went all-in on Vanderbilt.

“It was difficult, for sure, because you’ve got Coach Kill and Coach Beck relying on you to come back. But it’s all a money game,” Pavia said. “You’ve got other schools offering you $4 million and they don’t want to pay you $4 million. But like, you took a chance on me, so I understand that. … They told me the things that I wanted to hear, of how they’re going to build the offense, know what receivers we’re going to go get.

“And they were telling me, we can pay you that, but we are not going to have enough money to go get these guys to go throw the ball around. And it just made sense to me, like, man, I value winning over anything else. It was perfect.”

Vanderbilt brought in 20 players from the transfer portal this cycle, including three wide receivers. Those additions are already making an impression – and Pavia is ready to roll.

“It’s like playing with a new toy every day,” Pavia said. “You just throw the ball as far as you can. You’ve got some fast little Black kid just f—ing catch it.”