INDIANAPOLIS — Diego Pavia, who was Vanderbilt University’s starting quarterback the past two seasons and was the runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting last year, said Friday he will throw passes at the NFL scouting combine.
The quarterbacks are scheduled to go through drills at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, when receivers and running backs will also go through their paces. Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, the expected No. 1 pick who led Indiana to a 16-0 season capped by the CFP national championship last month, said he would wait until the Hoosiers’ pro day in Bloomington on April 1 to throw.
Pavia said he will not go through additional on-field drills in Indianapolis beyond throwing, though he plans to take part in Vanderbilt’s pro day on March 18 in Nashville.
The former Commodores standout is viewed as a later-round pick largely because of his size. Pavia measured at just less than 5-foot-10; Mendoza, by comparison, is 6-5.
Pavia’s confidence is not in short supply, though, which is something that has gotten him in trouble. He lashed out at Heisman voters in a social media post last year before later apologizing.
While saying Friday he doesn’t “care what people think about me,” Pavia emphasized he takes a cerebral approach to the game.
“I think my mind is just underrated, just the way I process,” Pavia said. “I feel like I’m a fast processor.
“I’m humble, and I get my confidence from my process. And if you saw what, how much I put into this, you would see where I get my confidence from.”
Whether it’s confidence or brashness, Pavia helped drive Vanderbilt — often a bottom dweller in the Southeastern Conference — to a No. 9 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll at one point last season, former Commodores fullback Clark Lea’s fifth as head coach at his alma mater.
The next step is for Pavia to try to transfer that play over to the NFL, and he seemed to be poking fun at himself a bit regarding his on- and off-field reputation.
“Coach Lea always stressed that your frontal lobe isn’t fully developed until you’re 25, and I just turned 24,” said Pavia, whose birthday is Feb. 16. “So I’ve got like 360 days to go.”