NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Vanderbilt football is enjoying its best start to a season in more than 80 years. The Commodores are 7-1, ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25, and are winning people over with each win.
Winning over the doubters, to be exact, led by Diego Pavia. The star quarterback was once an afterthought by college recruiters, but has blossomed at Vanderbilt into a Heisman Trophy contender, leading a band of overlooked brothers into the College Football Playoff conversation.
“I think we’re a bunch of misfits, you know,” Pavia said. “Guys who were slept on, you know, and I feel like we all have that chip on our shoulder who really just don’t care about what the people say. We just want to go out there and play.”
These days, Pavia’s enjoying his status as one of college football's biggest stars, but it was a long journey to get to this point. Pavia didn’t have a single Division I scholarship offer out of high school. He started his college career at New Mexico Military Institute, a junior college near his hometown. He then spent two seasons at New Mexico State before finally arriving on West End.
And Pavia's not alone in his climb. Star tight end Eli Stowers is a converted quarterback who transferred with Pavia from New Mexico State. Receiver Richie Hoskins started his career at Division III Middlebury. And much of the team began their careers elsewhere before finding a home playing for Clark Lea at Vanderbilt.
“All of us have scuff marks,” Lea said. “There’s not a one of us who, you know, was wanted anywhere else.”
Lea knows the struggle firsthand. Two decades ago, he gave up a college baseball career to walk on as a fullback at Vanderbilt. When he returned as coach, he began building his program with players who had a similar chip on their shoulder.
Now he's leading a program that's long been the SEC's doormat to unprecedented heights.
“It’s just who we are, man. It’s the chip on our shoulder,” Lea said. “And I feel so lucky to be around a group that embraces that.”
The Commodores have three wins over ranked teams this season, including victories over then-No. 10 LSU and then-No. 15 Missouri the past two weeks. The breakout play in the win over Mizzou came from a running back who maybe most embodies this band of misfits.
A year ago, Makhilyn Young was out of football, cleaning toilets and gym floors at his church in Texas while attending seminary, not knowing where he would get another opportunity to play the game he loves. On Saturday, Young broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run to propel Vandy to one of the biggest wins in program history in front of a sold-out crowd and a national TV audience.
“God was walking through with me in that valley,” Young said after the game. “And through all of that, I just had to trust and lean not into my own understanding. I literally used to pray for moments like this, and it finally comes, and it’s just like, just grateful. From being there and now being here, it’s just a long way coming. Shout out God for that.”
Young attended that postgame media availability wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “misfits” across the front. It’s a popular shirt in the locker room these days for a team bonded together by the doubts of others and fueled by the belief that they will soon be known in a different way.
“We just want to win, we find a way to win, winners find a way to win,” Young said. “That’s just who we are, a bunch of misfits willing to do anything for this team.”
