Diego Pavia the Highest Graded Quarterback In America Through Two Weeks; PFF Takeaways

If you ask Pro Football Focus, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia isn’t just college football’s greatest enigma or the leader of a Vanderbilt team that’s setting out to do some things that its program has never done.

He’s college football’s best quarterback through two weeks.

Through Vanderbilt’s first two games, Pavia posts a 93.0 overall grade as well as a 92.4 grade as a passer and a 75.9 as a runner. He’s PFF’s highest-graded quarterback in the country, right behind him in second is Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar–who posts a 92.9.

Pavia’s outing in Vanderbilt’s win over Virginia Tech–which included an early interception and what appeared to be a nearly perfect day following it–graded out as a 92.4 with a 91.7 passing grade and a 71.9 rushing grade.

“He’s amazing,” Vanderbilt center Jordan White–who used to have a disdain for Pavia while they both played in Conference USA–said. “Every time I see him, he’s amazing. I love to have him as a quarterback.”

The Vanderbilt quarterback walked into Lane Stadium over two hours before kickoff with wired headphones in rapping ASAP Rocky and set the tone for the night. His flip to Vanderbilt freshman Kayleb Barnett had NFL scouts saying “damn,” in the press box. A downfield block and an edge that guided Vanderbilt to one of head coach Clark Lea’s best wins as Vanderbilt’s head coach.

Who knows how it all ends for Pavia, but he appears to be as good as it gets in college football thus far.

Tre Richardson stands out, again

Richardson had his coming out party on Saturday and was Vanderbilt’s second-highest graded player behind Pavia with a 90.2 overall grade and a 91.7 grade in passing situations.

“He’s a weapon,” Lea said. “He’s fast. He has really good ball skills, the contested catch for the touchdown was an awesome play and it was a great throw. Diego is confident in Tre and puts the ball on him. He’s been a great addition to a room that’s very strong.”

Vanderbilt appears to have a real target in Richardson to complement Junior Sherrill and Eli Stowers, PFF supports that claim.

Vanderbilt’s offensive line got the game ball for good reason

Four of Vanderbilt’s five starting offensive linemen graded above a 60 on the day and as a result Vanderbilt center Jordan White walked into the press conference and plopped the game ball on the table.

White was Vanderbilt’s highest-graded offensive lineman with a 74.7 grade while Bryce Henderson followed with a 69.4 and Cade McConnell posted a 66.9. Isaia Glass was Vanderbilt’s lowest-rated starting offensive lineman with a 51.7.

Injured player snap counts

Junior Sherrill didn’t practice much throughout the week and sported a heavy knee brace on Saturday night, but played 37 snaps over the course of the night and received a 67.3 grade after a few early catches downfield.

The Vanderbilt junior isn’t at 100% and is still battling a bit, but he appears to have taken a leap as a complete receiver–-as evidenced by a few jump-ball catches he made on Saturday.

Vanderbilt tight end Cole Spence was expected to play a little over double-digit snaps and reevaluate his knee injury before proceeding on Saturday night. It appears as if the Vanderbilt tight end got positive returns on those snaps after suffering the injury a week ago against Charleston Southern as he played 28 snaps and received a 62.3 grade on Saturday.

Gunner Givens played three snaps on Saturday after being labeled as questionable during the week.

PFF loved SEMO transfer Jaylon Stone’s performance

Stone played just nine snaps and didn’t have gaudy numbers, but received an 88.1 for his Saturday-night grade. That was the highest of any defensive player by nearly seven points.

Seven of Stone’s nine snaps came in run defense while just two came on passing plays. BYU transfer Joshua Singh outsnapped Stone by four, but Stone made a significant imprint on the game.

The initial eye test was kind to Nick Rinaldi and so were the evaluators

Rinaldi just seems to be all over the field these days and was rewarded by PFF’s evaluators as a result.

The Vanderbilt swiss-army knife received an 81.3 grade in his 29 snaps. Vanderbilt’s linebacker snaps appeared to be somewhat even as Bryan Longwell led the group with 37, Langston Patterson played 30 and Bryce Cowan played 26.