How PFF Viewed Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt Football's Performances in First Game

Nashville—If Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia needed any confirmation that his performance was satisfactory on Saturday night, all he had to do was wait for the Pro Football Focus grades to come out.

The Vanderbilt quarterback went 20-for-25 with 275 yards as well as three touchdowns and no turnovers on Saturday in a performance that looked positive to the blind eye. PFF’s evaluators confirmed that thought as they awarded Pavia the highest grade among any Vanderbilt offensive player.

"Diego was efficient," Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. "We were moving him in the run game. We were completing passes. It looked exactly how we wanted it to look."

Pavia posted an 88.7 overall grade with a 90.5 grade in the pass game and a 59.9 grade in the run game. His grade ranked 25th in the country.

Martel Hight’s workload and grades

The final count for Hight was 24 offensive snaps and 11 defensive snaps, according to PFF.

PFF gave Hight a 75.5 grade as a cornerback with a 73.0 coverage grade and a 79.5 tackling grade while it gave him a 54.8 on offense with a 61.3 grade as a run blocker and a 54.8 as a pass catcher.

Take Hight’s results in week one with a heavy grain of salt. He’s still likely to play significantly more corner than receiver in 2025.

Blaze Berlowitz posts a 61.8

Pavia’s backup saw his first game action since the 2023 Conference USA championship game and threw four passes for one completion in his 12 snaps as Vanderbilt’s quarterback.

The junior–who transferred from New Mexico State–had a 56.1 grade as a passer and a 63.3 grade as a runner.

Other receiver snap counts

Tre Richardson led all receivers with 40 snaps while Junior Sherrill followed closely behind with 38 and Richie Hoskins took 32.

Vanderbilt’s second group of receivers included Tristen Brown–who took 12 snaps–Trent Hudson taking eight snaps and Boski Barrett taking four snaps. Virginia Tech transfer Chance Fitzgerald did not take a snap.

Offensive line snap count and top performers

Isaia Glass led the offensive line with 65 snaps played while Jordan White followed with 61, Chase Mitchell played 49, Bryce Henderson played 39, Cade McConnell chipped in 37, Virginia Tech transfer Gunnar Givens–who initially wasn’t expected to play all that much–played 36, including some early in the game.

Looks to me like Cade McConnell is actually Vanderbilt’s backup center if something happens to Jordan White.
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) August 30, 2025

The two other Vanderbilt linemen that saw the field were transfers Orion Irving–who played 26 snaps–and Sterling Porcher–who played 12.

White led all offensive linemen with an 83.2 grade in pass protection while Givens followed closely behind with an 82.0 and Irving came in third with a 79.0. Mitchell led all Vanderbilt linemen in run blocking with a 74.2 while Givens posted a 73.2.

Miles Capers stands out

Capers proved to be worthy of his appearance in the postgame press conference on Saturday as a result of his performance that was the highest-graded of any Vanderbilt player.

The Vanderbilt EDGE rusher--who said in the preseason that he felt bigger, faster and stronger–earned a 91.8 from PFF’s evaluators. The second highest grade on the defense was Zaylin Wood’s 76.8.

Capers’ pass rushing was also the highest-graded aspect of any Vanderbilt defensive player’s performance. His 13 snaps doing that netted him a 90.5 grade. Vanderbilt’s second-highest graded pass rusher was Khordae Sydnor.

It appears as if Capers had one of his best games in a Vanderbilt uniform.

Carson Lawrence makes a good impression

Lawrence was relatively quiet to the blind eye in his 27 snaps on Saturday, but ranked seventh on Vanderbilt’s defense with a 73.5 grade.

Defensive line snapcounts and leaders

Zaylin Wood played 23 snaps and was Vanderbilt’s highest-graded player on the defensive line while the 75.4 grade that Texas transfer Aaron Bryant posted in his nine snaps of action was Vanderbilt’s second highest grade for a defensive lineman. Bryant’s best grade came in his pass-rushing metrics while Wood’s was his tackling.

Glenn Seabrooks accumulated 17 snaps and a 71.1 grade in his return from injury while SEMO transfer Jaylon Stone as well as Western Michigan transfer Mason Nelson played 18 snaps. Bradley Mann played eight in his return from injury, as well.

So far, so good for Vanderbilt football. Now it gets to see if its trends from game one continue into a week two matchup against Virginia Tech that will likely call it to use its personnel differently.