Diego Pavia's undrafted status isn't all Ravens should know about new QB originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Baltimore Ravens quickly turned things around with the Diego Pavia narrative.

From undrafted to a rookie minicamp invite to a three-year contract only in a matter of days -- not a bad bounceback for the quarterback from Vanderbilt.

His name has been in the news plenty for a guy who nobody took in seven rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft, but that's for good reason.

There's more to Pavia than his undrafted status.

MORE: Diego Pavia, Shedeur Sanders and an NFL QB problem that goes back to Tim Tebow

Maybe the most notable thing Pavia did in his college career was lead Vandy to back-to-back 10-win seasons.

The 2026 season may have been the Commodores' best-ever football campaign.

And they only had one draft pick, tight end Eli Stowers, so this was often Pavia putting the team on his back for impressive SEC wins.

He finished as a Heisman Trophy finalist after throwing for 3,539 yards and 29 TDs while running for 862 yards and 10 more scores.

Nothing was given to Pavia. He didn't have a single Division I scholarship offer out of high school.

So instead, he went to New Mexico Military Institute and won a junior college national title.

From there, he went to New Mexico State, and then he moved up to Vandy.

"I just think they were scared of my height," Pavia told ESPN in 2024 of his lack of recruiting interest. "People like to focus on height, weight and 40-yard dash times. I like to go off film. I move well. I feel like I throw the ball well. I feel like I run well. I just don't have God-given height and weight."

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