Vandy QB Diego Pavia wins injunction allowing him to play DI football in 2025

On By Littum

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge granted Diego Pavia ‘s request for a preliminary injunction allowing the quarterback to play the 2025 season and told the NCAA that the organization cannot take any action against Vanderbilt or any other university, that Pavia will play a fifth season until next year.

U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell issued the injunction Wednesday after a Dec. 4 hearing. Campbell had asked lawyers both how soon they could be ready for trial and the transfer portal window, which closes on December 28.

“With Pavia at quarterback, Vanderbilt has experienced historic success — Vanderbilt beat both the University of Alabama and Auburn University — and the team will play in a bowl game for the first time since 2018,” Campbell wrote in a statement issued with the order. “Those familiar with college football appreciate this remarkable accomplishment. Pavia estimates he could earn over $1 million in NIL compensation in the 2025-26 season.”

Campbell noted that current NCAA bylaws make Pavia ineligible to play Division I football in 2025 simply because the quarterback started his career at a junior college.

Pavia filed its case to seek an extra season Nov. 8 in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville. He has applied to Vanderbilt’s graduate legal studies program starting in January in the event he wins the ban.

He didn’t get an offer from a Football Bowl Subdivision school coming out of Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He went to New Mexico Military Institute in 2020 and led the junior college to the national championship in 2021. He went to New Mexico State in 2022 and won 10 games in 2023.

The Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year then followed his head coach, Jerry Kill, and offensive coordinator Tim Beck to Vanderbilt this offseason.

Pavia is a big reason why Vanderbilt is 6-6. The Commodores play Georgia Tech on Dec. 27 in the Birmingham Bowl — the program’s first since 2018. The Commodores finished ranked twice in the AP Top 25, and it won over so – no. 1 Alabama snapped a 60-game winless streak over AP top-5 teams.

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