Vanderbilt football and star quarterback Diego Pavia are featured in a Netflix series called “SEC Football: Any Given Saturday” which released for streaming on Aug. 5.
The seven-episode series showcases some of the biggest stories from the 2024 SEC football season, including Vanderbilt’s historic upset of No. 1 Alabama. The Commodores are featured in two episodes, one of which focuses on the win over Alabama on Oct. 5 and another on their win over Auburn on Nov. 2.
Here’s three things we learned about Vanderbilt and Pavia in the Netflix series.
Diego Pavia’s practice habits earn friendly criticism from teammates
Pavia earned plenty of respect in college football last year after guiding the Commodores with 28 total touchdowns en route to a 7-6 season.
But his practice drew eye-rolls from some of his teammates last season.
“You don’t do (expletive) at practice,” offensive lineman Steven Hubbard joked during a film session in one scene. “You sit at practice and just run around and talk (expletive). That’s what you do at practice.”
Pavia laughed at the remark, then later described himself as a “gamer,” more focused on proving what he’s worth during games.
“If you want to win football games, just give me the ball and let me play,” Pavia said.
That’s not to say Pavia doesn’t work out and treat his body well. Later in the episode, Pavia is seen attending a hot yoga session before a practice. He also described a moment early in his time at Vanderbilt when he broke into the weight room at 3 a.m. to get a training session in.
Diego Pavia predicted bowl eligibility for Vanderbilt to Clark Lea
Vanderbilt ended a five-year bowl drought last year, beating Georgia Tech 35-27 in the Birmingham Bowl and finishing with their first winning season since 2013.
Pavia predicted that outcome when initially talking to Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea about coming to Vanderbilt.
“If you want to go to a bowl game, you come get me,” Pavia recalled telling Lea.
He made the same prediction to safety C.J. Taylor, who had initially expressed doubts about Pavia’s ability to lead an SEC football team.
“I looked him in his eyes and I said, ‘When I take you to a bowl game, I want you to come up to me and tell me thank you,'” Pavia said.
Clark Lea overheard Auburn coach disrespect prior to beating Tigers
While the win over Alabama was Vanderbilt’s most historic of the season, Lea described the win over Auburn — which clinched Vanderbilt’s bowl eligibility — as the win he was most proud of.
That’s partly because of something he overheard from the Auburn coaches prior to the game.
Prior to the game, Lea revealed that he overheard Auburn coaches saying during their pre-game huddle at midfield that they needed their players to find motivation to win that day, since it was not a traditional rivalry game or a “big game.”
“That is, first of all, (expletive) disrespectful,” Lea said to his team pre-game. “He said, ‘They are still Vanderbilt. We are still Auburn.’ Think about that (expletive). This is absolutely about earning some (expletive) respect around here.”
That was all the motivation the Commodores needed to beat Auburn, winning 17-7, and moving to 6-3 on the season to become bowl eligible.
“The Auburn game is the game that I’m most proud of,” Lea said. “I felt like we squeezed everything we had out of the tube.”
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
Pavia broke into Vanderbilt’s weight room to work out at 3 a.m.
-Pavia would sneak into Vanderbilt’s weight room at 3 a.m. to work out. Since the door was locked, he would jam the door the night before so he could still open it in the morning. In another episode, Pavia is seen attending a hot yoga session early in the morning before a practice.
-Eli Stowers encouraged Pavia to stop cursing in public
