I think pretty much all of us were surprised by the late commitment of Diego Pavia in the transfer portal. Because of the timing and Vanderbilt’s current scholarship situation, Pavia will be a summer enrollee and will not be here for spring practice. This gives Nate Johnson a leg up on winning the starting QB job. But what kind of players are these two guys? Nate Johnson is an electric QB with elite traits (10.56 100m) a strong arm, and good frame (6’1, 196). He started a few games for Utah last year and won a couple big games. He’s a dynamic runner who can make you miss in the box and run right by you. In addition he shows good power to run through arm tackles. Albeit in limited action, he showed some impressive downfield accuracy last year at Utah. For those who wish to compare him to Mike Wright, he’s bigger, faster, and stronger. He also has shown much more arm strength frankly. Not to say Mike Wright was a bad player, but Johnson’s ceiling is certainly higher. In a perfect world Johnson wins the job and plays the whole season without injury or regression. However, it’s quite likely there will be bumps in the road and that’s where Diego Pavia comes in. It feels like he’s the insurance for Johnson. Simply put, Pavia’s a gamer. Listed at 6’0, 200, he’s probably more like 5’10, with a powerful build. He runs like a running back with a distinctive one cut powerful running style. He possesses a nice jump cut and runs through arm tackles. He brings an element of toughness that this team needs. As a passer, he’s inconsistent. He has a solid arm and makes some incredible throws, but he has also put the ball in harms way too often and maybe trusts his arm strength a little too much. Even if Pavia is not the starter, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some option packages or two QB sets to get him on the field with his dynamic ability. Either way, the future looks bright for Vanderbilt at the QB position.
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