The rumors of Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia seeking a seventh year of eligibility were short-lived. The senior took to X on Tuesday to respond to the reports and tell fans that he's done after the 2025 season.
“🧢… this my last year 🤝,” he wrote over a report from On3 that read, ” Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia's attorney has set the stage to challenge the NCAA for a 7th season of eligibility👀”
The 24-year-old Pavia is in his second season at Vanderbilt after transferring from New Mexico State. Before that, he spent two years and won a national championship at New Mexico Military Institute.
Through three games in 2025, he has completed 50 of his 68 pass attempts for 645 yards with seven touchdowns. He has also rushed for an additional 129 yards over 30 carries.
Pavia needed to jump through legal hoops just to become eligible for 2025. A judge granted him a preliminary injunction against the NCAA last December when he argued the organization's redshirt rule for former junior college players violates antitrust law.
Following the ruling, the NCAA issued a blanket waiver to athletes who “competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years” and otherwise would have exhausted their eligibility following last season.
Attorneys for Pavia and the NCAA are in front of a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday as they continue to hash out what this means for athletes moving forward.
Boise State law professor Sam Ehrlich posted to X on Tuesday that Pavia's attorney “is saying that unless the rules are not found to be subject to antitrust they're going to stack on a challenge to the redshirt rule and asking for an injunction so Pavia can play in 2026.”
That seems to be the only way the current case is not simply “academic” at this point. The panel could decide the NCAA's appeal is moot because Pavia has already been granted eligibility for this season.
