Diego Pavia is truly college football’s boldest troll master. Over the summer, Pavia took sly shots at major SEC programs, from Tennessee to the Alabama schools. But the real mic-drop moment? Practicing his victory formation kneel-downs right in front of Alabama’s players before their big game. Talk about having guts! Now, some might see it as cocky or even reckless. However, when Nick Saban reviews this action, it doesn’t look as great.

“I love Diego, but that would have been a catastrophic player-coach relationship moment before the game,” Saban said on Friday. “I never wanted our players to ever do anything; I didn’t even let them talk to the other team. [And] I never wanted them to do anything that was going to affect the other team’s motivation to beat us.” But even with all that in play, the 30-14 loss of the game didn’t really speak much about his pre-game antics.

The biggest heartbreak for Vanderbilt came from two critical turnovers in the red zone. Their 24-year-old bold quarterback, who’s been the team’s spark, fumbled once and threw a costly interception trying too hard down the stretch. His stat line represented very average numbers of 21 out of 35 passes for 198 yards with just a mere interception. And despite the defeat, Diego Pavia is not one to step down and apologize for his actions.

Instead, there were words exchanged when a Bama fan confronted him by shouting from the stands after the win. Pavia’s reply? “I do whatever the f— I want ”. Be it brushing off the fan sentiment or talking against Nick Saban’s former team, the Commodores QB1 won’t back down. As stated earlier, the iconic Saban remains a fan of Pavia.

Saban told McAfee, “Last year, to me, it was the Diego Pavia show. He ran it; they did quarterback runs; he dominated the game. He dominates the game now differently because he makes every player on his team better, and he’s a much better passer.” Last year, Pavia’s completion rate was 69.1%. And this year, after Week 8, he stands with a rating of 70.5%. But not everybody was a fan of his antics.

“Everyone wants to tell you their favorite Diego Pavia story and maybe I’m too old school, because I really like him, but I think I think he talked way too much,” ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show.”He set himself up for failure in this game, running his mouth. And it’s one thing to talk trash.” That game produced a season-worst 55.8 QBR for Pavia. But he is not the first one to trash-talk Alabama.

Nick Saban recalls another Vandy star and his antics

There’s something in the Nashville air that literally hypes up the Commodores’ egos. That’s because Diego Pavia is not the only one who doesn’t hesitate. Alabama legend Nick Saban shared a hilarious story from 2017 about a then-Vanderbilt defensive lineman. Nifae Lealao said some major trash before their game against the Crimson Tide. And let’s remember that it was the Nick Saban era at Tuscaloosa.

The jab took place after Vandy’s 14-7 home win over Kansas State. “We expected to get this,” Lealao said. “When you come to our house, we’ll show you how to play some SEC ball. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. You’re going to know what ball we play. We’re going into next week ranked. That’s fine. Alabama, you’re next.” The end result? Alabama went on to crush Vanderbilt 59-0 in Nashville. Saban legit capitalized on that comment to fuel motivation among the Bama players.

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And it was a major favor over Nick Saban. “I was happy for him at the time because I was losing sleep on how I was going to motivate our team to play Vandy,” Saban said on ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’ That’s why he reminded the current Commodores star, Diego Pavia, that teams use trash talk as added motivation.