Deion Sanders sends message to Diego Pavia: 'Stay strong and don't let up' – USA Today

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders is publicly rooting for Diego Pavia to have a chance at a professional football career, either in the NFL or somewhere else.
The former Vanderbilt football quarterback was not selected in one of the seven rounds and 257 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, and has yet to be signed by one of the 32 NFL teams as an undrafted free agent.
“I believe in you my man! Stay strong and don’t let up,” Sanders wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Show them what time it is and never allow them to forget. Much love & God bless you.”
Sanders has first-hand experience of seeing a player slide down the NFL draft board, and likely is speaking to that in his tweet to Pavia, as his son, Shedeur Sanders, fell out of the first round and all the way down to the fifth round in the 2025 NFL Draft before the Cleveland Browns selected him.
With Red Murdock being selected as Mr. Irrelevant, i.e., the last player selected in the draft, on Saturday by the Denver Broncos, Pavia became the first Heisman Trophy finalist not to be chosen in the NFL draft since Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch in 2014.
He was ranked the No. 12 quarterback on ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.’s big board.
As noted by USA TODAY’s Jacob Camenker, Pavia largely went undrafted because of his size. He measured in at 5-9 7/8 inches at the Senior Bowl in February and then just over 5-10 at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, which puts him among the bottom tier of NFL quarterbacks in terms of height. He was listed at 6-0 tall on Vanderbilt’s official website.
Pavia led Vanderbilt to a 17-9 record in his two seasons as the Commodores quarterback. He threw for a combined 5,822 yards and 49 touchdown passes in his two seasons in the SEC, highlighted by a career-high 3,539 yards and 29 touchdowns this last year.
Should Pavia sign with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent, he’ll not only have a steep mountain to climb to make the 53-man roster, but will also receive a three-year contract with that team.
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