Diego Pavia endorses Vaderbilt QB1 decision

Vanderbilt football has been holding a quarterback competition in an effort to find a replacement for Diego Pavia. Vanderbilt landed on Blaze Berlowitz as their starting quarterback for Week 1 against Austin Peay, as he beat out 5-star recruit Jared Curtis for the job.

Berlowitz sat behind Pavia for three years, one at New Mexico State and two at Vanderbilt. Now, Pavia is praising the decision to roll with his understudy to start the 2026 campaign, posting on social media.

“WELL EARNED- been watching this king from the start of time at NM STATE when he took over in the championship game at 18 years old and BALLED- yall better stand down this man the truth!” Pavia posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Berlowitz committed to New Mexico State out of Oklahoma to continue his football career. He used his redshirt season that year, but did play in one game. He started the Conference-USA Championship game against Liberty in place of an injured Pavia. While Pavia said he “balled,” he was not amazing in the contest. Berlowitz completed ten of 19 passes for 134 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also ran four times for 36 yards.

The relationship between Berlowitz, the coaching staff, and Pavia was clearly strong, though. After the 2023 season, Jerry Kill, the New Mexico State head coach, took a consultant role with Vanderbilt. Tim Beck, the offensive coordinator, then took a job as the OC at Vanderbilt. Both Pavia and Berlowitz would join them.

Berlowitz sat the entire 2024 season behind Pavia, not seeing any action. He would see action in 2025, appearing in six games, mostly in mop-up duty. He completed nine of 17 passes for 131 yards with a touchdown. The quarterback also ran for 81 yards and another score.

Vanderbilt opens their season on September 5 against Austin Peay.

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