In 2023, New Mexico State University (NMSU), led by then-starting quarterback Diego Pavia, defeated first-year head coach Hugh Freeze's Auburn team 31-10 for one of the biggest upset wins in the program's history.
A few months later, Pavia entered the transfer portal and nearly committed to play for the University of Nevada in 2024. However, Pavia opted to attend Vanderbilt University, following in the footsteps of his recently retired NMSU head coach Jerry Kill and now-departed NMSU offensive coordinator Tim Beck.
The rest is history, with a few chapters remaining, for Pavia and his historic run for the Vanderbilt Commodores.
However, the Vanderbilt standout would have been at Auburn if U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) had his way, according to a report from CBS Sports' John Talty.
In a lengthy postmortem for the recently fired Freeze, Talty relays a long-rumored story that Tuberville, who coached Auburn's football team from 1999 to 2008, urged Freeze to pursue a new starting quarterback to replace 2023 starter Payton Thorne.
However, Freeze stuck with Thorne for the 2024 season.
In recent months, Senator Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn head coach, has told a story to Auburn supporters that he had tried to convince Freeze to go after New Mexico State transfer Diego Pavia instead of keeping Thorne. Freeze was plenty familiar with Pavia, who led NMSU to a shocking upset win over Auburn in that 2023 season and has been a revelation since transferring to Vanderbilt. But Freeze told the senior Alabama senator he preferred to keep Thorne and build around him in the transfer portal. "You're a dead man if you don't have a quarterback," Tuberville said he told Freeze.
And all it took was a few games for Freeze to realize he'd made a mistake. On the Friday before a home game against Oklahoma last season, which turned out to be another loss, Freeze admitted to a source he blew it with Thorne and should have taken a transfer quarterback instead. Auburn limped to the end of a 5-7 season knowing it had to get the quarterback position right.
Since arriving on the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville in 2024, Pavia has compiled a 14-7 record for the Commodores, including a 40-35 win over the then-top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in 2024, and a 7-2 record for the 2025 season.
Since reportedly passing on Pavia, Freeze went 5-6 in 2024 and 4-5 this season before being fired by Auburn on Sunday.
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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