Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia Told Theo Von He Can Keep The Heisman Trophy In His Podcast Studio If He Wins

You know who Theo is rooting for in the Heisman race.

Tonight is the 2025 Heisman Trophy ceremony to name the top player in college football. The finalists this year include three quarterbacks in Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, as well as Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.

The favorite going into the night seems to be Mendoza, after the Indiana Hoosiers defeated Sayin and Ohio State last weekend in the Big Ten championship, the first for Indiana since 1967.

Mendoza, who transferred to Indiana this year from Cal, has lead the Hoosiers to an undefeated season while throwing for 2,980 yards and 33 touchdowns. He also has 6 rushing touchdowns on the season, and a 71.5% completion percentage.

Meanwhile, Pavia and his Vanderbilt team have been the perceived underdogs all season, going on an incredible 10-2 run thanks to the New Mexico State transfer slinging it for 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns while rushing for another 9 scores.

He’s undeniably one of the most electric – and polarizing – players in college football, and hasn’t been shy about promoting himself as the deserving winner of the Heisman:

Well ahead of the ceremony tonight in New York, the finalists were asked who the first person they’d let hold the trophy would be. And while Mendoza, Sayin and Love all said their mothers, Pavia had a different answer: Theo Von.

Pavia and Theo have become close friends over the past couple years, with the comedian and podcaster frequently being spotted on the sidelines of Vandy games this year and hanging out with Pavia and his family. (And of course, at one point he was promised a date with Diego’s mom, but it never worked out).

Well obviously the Heisman Trophy would make a pretty cool prop for his podcast studio, and Pavia says he told Theo he would let him keep it in the background of his This Past Weekend studio if he indeed wins – after letting his mom hold it of course:

“I told Theo that he could keep it in his podcast, in the back, as long as noone robs him or whatever. But yeah, I’d probably let him hang on to it.”

@overtimeszn

I’d never let go of my Heisman #heisman #football #trophy

♬ original sound – Overtimeszn

Pavia gets a lot of hate for not being as “polished” as other plays, and for being a little cocky, but honestly I love seeing personality out of players and not just these canned answers. And when it comes to personality, Pavia and his family have plenty to go around – for better or worse.

During Vandy’s final game of the regular season against Tennessee, Diego’s 25-year old brother Javier Pavia 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 recently, 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.

The Heisman ceremony takes place tonight at 7 PM eastern, so we’ll know soon whether Theo will soon have a new decoration for his studio.The post Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia Told Theo Von He Can Keep The Heisman Trophy In His Podcast Studio If He Wins first appeared on Whiskey Riff.