Diego Pavia wanted an NFL job, and the NFL didn’t give him one. So he’s now turned to Deion Sanders, saying he’d love to play for Coach Prime. Sanders didn’t take long to respond, and his four-word message to the former Vanderbilt star was short, direct, and impossible to miss.
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Pavia may not have an NFL team right now, but he clearly still has Deion Sanders in his corner.
“Love ya, man! You are a real 1. God bless u,” Coach Prime left a comment under a post replying to Pavia’s Instagram post.
That reply came after Pavia shared a heartfelt thank you on Instagram after his Boulder visit, crediting Sanders for treating him like family.
“Boulder, thank you guys, for an awesome experience. I loved the way you guys got rowdy for the ball players,” Pavia wrote. “I was super entertained myself, and I will definitely be back to support my guys! SKOO BUFFS 🦬 Also thank you to @deionsanders & @deionsandersjr for taking care of me this weekend and treating me like family. Love you guys forever. For you guys that didn’t get to watch, check out my YouTube channel for the lit weekend!!”
Pavia had just visited Boulder for a huge game between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Utah Utes. His post shows him enjoying the crowd, talking about his own coaching background, and showing off how intense the stadium felt.
The former Heisman Trophy finalist has had a short run in the NFL so far. After going undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft, he signed with the Baltimore Ravens in late April but was waived in July. No other team has signed him since.
Even so, his latest moves have people talking. NFL insider Jordan Schultz noticed Pavia at the Colorado game, which happened just a day after Pavia said he would like to play for Sanders.
“I do wish I could play for Coach Prime,” he said on his Twitch livestream. “I feel like when you get offered in football, more offers come. So, in a way, I wouldn’t be here without Coach Prime’s offer. So, I came to support him, his team.”
The offer he mentioned goes back to his college days, before the 2022 season. Sanders was the head coach at Jackson State Tigers when Pavia got an offer.
“Coach Prime offered me at Jackson State,” Pavia said on The Pivot Podcast in December 2025. “But he was so real. He was like, ‘Hey, look. We’re looking for a backup. You ain’t playing over my son even if he gets hurt.’ And I’m like, at least he’s real, you know? So I took the offer to New Mexico State.”
That choice sent his career in another direction. After two seasons at New Mexico State, he transferred to Vanderbilt in 2024.
In 2025, Pavia led Vanderbilt to its first ten-win season in program history. He finished with 3,539 passing yards and 29 touchdowns. That earned him second place in the Heisman Trophy voting, behind Fernando Mendoza of the Indiana Hoosiers.
Pavia then declared for the 2026 NFL Draft, hoping to make the jump. Sanders, the coach he had turned down years earlier, backed him on X by posting, “I BELIEVE IN YOU, MY MAN!”
But despite everything he did in college, Pavia heard no name called through all seven rounds. For now, Pavia is still waiting for his next shot, and Coach Prime seems happy to keep cheering him on.