Diego Pavia is the starting quarterback at Vanderbilt. He has his own individual locker right in the middle of the Commodores’ locker room.
Is that weird?
His college football teammates don’t see anything wrong with it. It makes sense for the most important player on the team to be front and center.
Diego Pavia is a dog.
Diego Pavia arrived to Nashville in 2024 after two years at New Mexico Military College and two years at New Mexico State. This will be his sixth and final season of college football.
It just so happens to be at a turning point in the No. 18-ranked Vanderbilt program, both on and off of the field.
The Commodores just finished a renovation to its football stadium and team facilities at a cost of $300+ million. The most prominent features include:
- A new south end zone building.
- New football team locker rooms in the south end zone.
- Expanded premium seating and hospitality options.
- Upgraded stadium concourse and concessions.
- New video boards and sound systems.
- Expanded practice facility with upgrades.
Basketball also received some upgrades but the primary emphasis was on football.
Vanderbilt’s locker room set up draws scrutiny.
This is the first year where the new locker room is officially open. Athletes were finally allowed into their new space during fall camp. They have been there ever since.
The majority of lockers are placed on the outer walls of the room. Every single player on the team is seated next to at least one other person— except for one.
Diego Pavia sits right in the middle of the room. His locker is the only locker with this orientation.
To add additional context, his locker directly faces all of the skill players. The wide receivers and running backs sits against the back wall. Their starting quarterback looks them in the eyes.
Although that orientation to the locker room makes sense to me, it did not make sense to the haters. People on social media were very quick to label Pavia as egotistical. They don’t understand why he has to be the only player in the middle of the room. Why does everything have to be about the quarterback?
Offensive lineman Cade McConnell put those people in their place.
“Starting QB locker spot that faces teammates… seems normal enough to me (input from a teammate) #ballknower”
There you have it!
Those who know ball see no issue with Diego Pavia’s locker. Those who don’t know ball… do.
Plus, it’s not like Pavia made this decision. Vanderbilt designed the renovation. It had nothing to do with any of the current players on the team. Everybody relax.