Whatever it takes.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy this year after leading the Commodores to their best season in school history. Vandy finished the season 10-2, with losses only to Texas and Alabama, though at this point it doesn’t look like they’re going to make the playoffs without some serious chaos.
After beating Tennessee this past weekend, Pavia hit the Heisman pose in celebration following a 23-yard rushing touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to all but seal the game, and afterwards he made it clear that he believes he should be in New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony:
But Diego wasn’t the only Pavia who padded his stats during the game. Javier Pavia, the 25-year old brother of Vandy’s QB, was arrested and escorted out of the stadium, marking the second time this year he’s been taken into custody at one of his brother’s games.
Early in the game against Tennessee, it appeared the Pavia family had words with security at Neyland Stadium about sitting on the wall:
And later on, photos began circulating showing Javier being escorted out of the stadium and detained by officers outside of a Knox County Sheriff van.
According to Tyler Whetstone, a reporter for Knox News, Pavia was arrested and charged with public intoxication after reportedly refusing to put down a flag that was blocking the view of those behind him, and then exchanging words with officers.
If you remember back to earlier in the season, both Javier and his brother Roel Pavia were arrested and charged with resisting arrest and public intoxication during Vandy’s season opener.
Javier’s charges are still pending in Davidson County from his previous arrest, and he’s due back in court on January 12, 2026.
Now, you may think that it’s a problem that his family simply can’t stop getting arrested during Pavia’s games. But as he revealed yesterday, it turns out Diego actually doesn’t have a big problem with it. In fact, during an appearance on Bussin’ With the Boys Pavia revealed that he encouraged his brother to get hammered during his games for good luck after noticing that Vandy was losing games when Javier was sober:
“I was like, ‘You know what? F–k it, next year get hammered as much as you want.’ That’s the only time we win.
And my brother only stayed sober for the Alabama game and the Texas game.”
Must be something to it.
And Theo Von, who’s become close friends with Diego and his family, hilariously praised Pavia’s family for their willingness to get arrested during Diego’s games:
“A lot of my family’s lived in halfway houses and stuff over the years so you meet a lot of people that are going through it and getting back into the community, you know? So yeah, the Pavias are f–king – I mean, I don’t know if there’s ever been a family like that that’s been associated with college football, front row, willing to get arrested.
They’ll have a 3-yard loss and they’re willing to get arrested. It doesn’t even need to be an amazing play and they’re willing to go down in chains. I think it’s pretty unbelievable.”
Theo joked that the Pavia family’s performance in the stands motivated the team on the field:
“I think it’s hard probably for you guys on the field not to play tough when they’re – I mean, those guys are willing, they’re running options in the stands. Javy, he’ll run an out route up 20 flights of bleachers. It’s just like, what’s going on?”
That’s the kind of energy you need in the stands.
I mean, Vandy has a reputation for not really being focused on sports, so they’re probably not used to having fans like the Pavia family going wild in the stands.
But you’ve got to respect them for their willingness to, as Theo put it, “go down in chains” while supporting their brother.
