Heisman Voter Fires Back at Diego Pavia Over Profane Post: ‘It Was a Punk Move’

Pavia has since apologized for his viral social media post ripping the Heisman voters.

Heisman voter Chase Goodbread slammed Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia for his profane social media post after losing to Indiana's Fernando Mendoza. / Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Diego Pavia didn't get the storybook ending he would have wanted at last weekend's Heisman ceremony. Instead, he lived long enough to see himself become the villain.

After Pavia lost the Heisman Trophy to Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, the Vanderbilt quarterback took to social media to share a profane post directed at the award's voters. “F-all the voters," Pavia wrote on his Instagram Stories. Later that day, Pavia issued an apology for his "disrespectful" message, but the damage was already done.

One of those Heisman voters wasted no time replying to Pavia following his viral social media stunt. Chase Goodbread, a columnist for The Tuscaloosa News, personally responded to Pavia in a scathing article in which he slammed the 23-year-old for his "unsportsmanlike" behavior after finishing second.

"F me, eh Diego?" Goodbread wrote. "For the first time, I cast a Heisman Trophy ballot last week, and Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia didn't like it."

Goodbread went on to call out Pavia's "jacka--ery" and his "classless" move to rip the voters following the ceremony, claiming that he and the other 643 people who turned in a first-place vote for Mendoza did so simply because they believed the Indiana star was most deserving.

Yet Pavia, who also put together an undeniably great season at Vanderbilt and garnered 189 first-place votes himself, didn't seem interested in treating his peers with respect after leaving the ceremony empty-handed. Instead, his petty actions arguably showed he could use a lesson or two in humility and how to take a loss with dignity.

Here's perhaps the knockout punch from Goodbread's column:

"He's a big boy now. Old enough to have more than one college degree. Old enough to beat the NCAA in court to gain extra eligibility, and old enough to make the pile of NIL money that came with that. Old enough to know better. And old enough to handle some criticism.

It was a punk move, Diego. This voter wasn't sitting right next to Mendoza Saturday night, but my congrats for him are at least genuine."

Pavia was set to end his sixth and final collegiate season on a high note, having helped the Commodores secure a second straight bowl game appearance and boosted his NFL draft stock. But even the best and most talented athletes—and especially the cockiest—can fall off their pedestals.

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