NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia has won the 2025 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award® it was announced Friday by the Golden Arm Educational Foundation and presenting sponsor the A. O. Smith Corporation.
He’s the first Commodore to receive the award, presented to the nation’s top upper-class quarterback who excels on the field, in the classroom and in the community, since its inception in 1987. Pavia will be given the award at ceremony in Baltimore on Dec. 12.
Pavia—a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy—is also a finalist for two other national honors, the Walter Camp Player of the Year and Manning Awards. Throughout the season, he has been named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week three times, the Associated Press National Player of the Week on two occasions and the Walter Camp National FBS Offensive Player of the Week twice.
Individually, the Albuquerque, New Mexico, resident leads the SEC and is among the top 10 in the country in six different statistical categories—total offense, passing efficiency, passing touchdowns, completion percentage, yards per pass attempt and points responsible for. His efforts have helped the Vandy offense lead the nation in yards per play and team passing efficiency, top all NCAA FBS programs in points per play and rank second among Power 4 schools in points per drive. The Dores’ average of 39.4 points per game is the program’s highest since 1915 as the unit is No. 1 in ESPN’s FPI ratings.
On the season, Pavia has connected 242-of-340 attempts for 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns, and he has also rushed for 826 yards and nine scores for a total of 4,018 yards. Not only has he set school season records for passing yards, touchdowns passing and total offense, Pavia is on track to post the second-highest completion percentage on the program’s all-time list.
He has played a key role in Vandy earning 10 victories in a season for the first time ever and winning a school-record six SEC games, as the Commodores enter the weekend No. 14 in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings and are 13th and 12th, respectively, in the Associated Press and AFCA coaches’ polls.
