Diego Pavia named Heisman Trophy finalist as Vanderbilt football quarterback

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Vanderbilt football's Diego Pavia was named a finalist for the 2025 Heisman Trophy and will attend the Heisman ceremony in New York on Dec. 13.

Pavia is 242-for-340 passing for 3,192 yards in 12 games this season. The 71.2% completion percentage leads the SEC and is eighth-best in the nation. He also leads the conference with 27 passing touchdowns, No. 9 in the nation. He added 826 rushing yards on 152 carries with nine rushing touchdowns.

He has four 300-yard passing games and two 100-yard rushing games this season, including a game against Kentucky in which he set the school record with 484 passing yards.

The other Heisman finalists were Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.

Pavia is the first Vanderbilt player to be named a Heisman finalist.

Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea advocated in a news conference on Dec. 7 for Pavia to win the Heisman.

"Statistically, I don't actually think it's very close in terms of what he's done throwing the ball, what he's done running the ball, what he's done in terms of the total offensive production," Lea said. " . . . Statistically, he wins the award. Emotionally, he wins the award. And this guy, if you watch him, particularly late in the season, just taking games over, he's had the most complete season of any player at that position that I'm aware of."

The winner will be announced Dec. 13 on ABC. Vanderbilt (10-2) will finish its season by facing Iowa (8-4) in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa on Dec. 31 (11 a.m. CT, ESPN).

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Diego Pavia named Heisman Trophy finalist for Vanderbilt football

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