Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia had his true height and weight revealed at the Senior Bowl, revealing a gap that may matter.
It’s all but accepted in the college football world that players are often shorter than their listed stature on a school’s website. There is a point where the discrepancy matters when it comes to player height and the physical prototype requirements of the NFL level. Those mismeasurements often come to the surface at NFL pre-draft showcases such as the Senior Bowl and Combine. The Senior Bowl began conducting their measurements to start the week on Monday and posted the official measurements for Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia. Let’s just say those fell a bit short of his previously listed height.
The Commodores have Pavia as 6-feet tall on their website, but his official measurements for the Senior Bowl were 5-foot-9 and 7/8 inches and 198 pounds. While no one really bought his stature at 6-feet, there’s a considerable two-plus inch difference. It would make Pavia, if drafted into the NFL, the shortest quarterback in the league behind Cardinals' Kyler Murray and Panthers' Bryce Young, who are both 5-foot-10. Doug Flutie was closer to 5-foot-10, but he was also successful in the league. Drew Brees is one of the best quarterbacks of all time, and he barely came in at 6-feet tall. He notably had to drop back further in order to see over the pass rush.
Pavia is even shorter than that, even shorter than Murray and Young, and it’s a question of whether teams will see their height as a cutoff or dip into the below-5-foot-10 territory. Now, Pavia was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, losing out to Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, also entering the NFL draft. Pavia also won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and was named first-team All-SEC, SEC Offensive Player of the Year along with second-team All-America by the AP. He also had his best collegiate season with career-highs in all following metrics, completing 70.6 percent of his passes for 3,539 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns, and 10 rushing touchdowns. He also only threw eight interceptions. Pavia led Vanderbilt to a 10-3 season in his 2025 campaign in his second year with the team, previously transferring from New Mexico State.
The 23-year-old played six years of college ball, making him presumably on-field ready for the NFL level, but his measurements may cause some teams to pause. He was already projected to go in the late rounds or perhaps undrafted, and this might push him into the latter category. However, a week of Senior Bowl interviews and time on the practice field are just as valuable to potentially push his stock back up.