Diego Pavia, Joey Aguilar set for SEC showdown
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Carlos Leon-Trejo, Contributor
- November 24, 2025
Diego Pavia earns Latino Player of the Week honors
Diego Pavia and Joey Aguilar share similar stories on their way to the Southeastern Conference. The star quarterbacks didn’t receive Division I scholarships coming out of high school, so they started at junior college.
After excelling at the junior college level, they still didn’t get much attention from major Division I programs. Pavia headed to New Mexico State. Aguilar went to App State.
Along the way, they turned heads and won multiple Latino Player of the Week honors. Then Pavia became an “overnight” sensation last year at Vanderbilt. This year, Aguilar became an “overnight” sensation at Tennessee.
Now, they’re headed for a primetime duel that has the state of Tennessee and the country watching. Pavia has Vanderbilt (9-2, 5-2 SEC) ranked No. 14 in the College Football Playoff poll and No. 12 in the AP Top 25 Poll. Aguilar has Tennessee (8-3, 4-3 SEC) ranked No. 20. in the CFP and No. 18 in the AP.
Considering the changes in the AP Poll on Sunday and losses by Georgia Tech and USC, Tennessee may improve to No. 18 in the CFP. Vanderbilt may stay at No. 14 on Tuesday, but the Commodores need to beat Tennessee on Saturday to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Diego Pavia accounts for 532 yards
Both players had strong starts on Saturday. Pavia threw for 484 yards and five touchdowns in a 45-17 victory over Kentucky. He completed 33 of 39 passing attempts with one interception. He also rushed for 48 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
Diego Pavia is the Latino Player of the Week for Week 13. Here’s how Aguilar and most other Latinos in college football performed in Week 13:
Aguilar, who has Mexican and Puerto Rican roots, led Tennessee to a 31-11 rout over Florida. He was 17-of-22 for 204 yards and one touchdown. Aguilar is only the fifth quarterback in Tennessee history to pass for at least 3,000 yards in a season.
Kentucky tight end Willie Rodriguez had a team-high six catches for 78 yards in the loss against Vandy.
With rival Texas on the horizon, Texas A&M stars KC Concepcion, Tuarean York and the Aggies’ starters didn’t play much on Saturday. Concepcion made the most of his season-low 17 snaps, though.
Concepcion had five catches for 42 yards with one touchdown in the 48-0 victory over Samford. He leads the Aggies with 11 touchdowns, nine receiving and two on punt returns.
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York, the three-year starter and captain, had one tackle while playing only nine snaps. Walk-on junior linebacker Aidan Herrera had one tackle in 11 snaps for the Aggies. True freshman Marcus Garcia, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound offensive lineman, made his college debut. The four-star recruit from Denton (Texas) Ryan High participated in two snaps.
Missouri linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez had six tackles (three solo) in a 17-6 loss to Oklahoma.
Elijah Melendez gets Pick-6
Auburn’s Elijah Melendez had a 41-yard, pick-6 for his first college touchdown. The freshman linebacker also had three tackles (two solo) in a 62-17 victory over Mercer.
Damian Ramos was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts with a PAT to help LSU beat Western Kentucky 13-10.
Ohio State freshman Devin Sanchez had two tackles in a 42-9 victory over Rutgers. Illinois kicker David Olano made a 24-yard field goal and missed another in a 27-10 loss to Wisconsin. Receiver Trebor Peña had four catches for 47 yards to help Penn State beat Nebraska 37-10. He added a 21-yard punt return and a two-yard carry.
UCLA’s Anthony Frias II had four catches for 21 yards in a 48-14 loss to Washington. He also rushed for five years on two carries. Rico Flores Jr. made a three-yard catch. He also made a tackle. Carlos Hernandez had five catches for a career-high 197 yards to help Wake Forest beat Delaware 52-14.
Sophomore quarterback Gio Lopez almost led North Carolina to an upset over rival Duke. He was 21-of-27 for 204 yards and one touchdown in the 32-25 loss. Lopez also rushed for 20 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Tristan Martinez had a two-yard catch for Clemson in a 45-10 victory over Furman.
Jahsiah Galvan had six tackles (three solo) to help Stanford upset Cal 31-10. Miami linebacker Raul Aguirre Jr. had two tackles in a 34-17 victory over Virginia Tech.
Pitt’s Kavir Bains-Marquez had his third interception of the season and second in as many games. He also had six tackles (four solo) in a 42-28 upset over Georgia Tech. Syracuse senior defensive lineman Elijah Fuentes-Cundiff had one tackle in a 70-7 loss to Notre Dame.
Jaxton Santiago shines in The Game
Yale’s Jaxton Santiago opened the scoring in The Game with a 21-yard touchdown catch-and-run. The sophomore from Bakersfield, Calif., finished with five catches for 68 yards in the 45-28 victory over Harvard to help Yale earn a share of the Ivy League title.
With the victory, the Bulldogs made history as the first Ivy League team to clinch a berth in the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs. Harvard also earned an at-large bid for the FCS playoffs.
Brown sophomore Alejandro Bello had a 74-yard pick-6 for his first touchdown of the season to help beat Dartmouth 35-28. Esteban Nunez-Perez accounted for all of Princeton’s points with two field goals in a 17-6 loss to Penn.
Kansas State kicker Luis Rodriguez went 5-for-5 on extra points and scored two field goals. His longest field goal was for 36-yards in Kansas State’s 51-47 loss against Utah. Kansas State safety Gunner Maldonado recorded one tackle for the Wildcats.
Florida State’s Tommy Castellanos was 16-of-32 for 203 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in a 21-11 loss to NC State. He also rushed for 76 yards on 11 carries.
Derek Eusebio torches Colorado
Arizona State receiver Derek Eusebio had four catches for 87 yards and a touchdown in the Sun Devils’ 42-17 victory over Colorado. Arizona State kicker Jesus Gomez was 4-for-4 in extra points and scored two field goals.
His longest field goal of the night was for 39 yards in a dominant 42-17 victory over Colorado. Alejandro Mata scored a 28-yard field goal for the Buffaloes in the loss. He went 2-for-2 in extra points.
Arizona kicker Michael Salgado-Medina made 5-of-6 extra-points and missed a field goal in a 41-17 victory over Baylor.
Houston kicker Ethan Sanchez went 2-for-2 in extra points. He missed two field goals in a 17-14 loss against TCU. San Diego State kicker Gabriel Plascencia went 2-for-2 on extra point attempts in the Aztecs’ 25-3 victory against San Jose State. He scored a 35-yard field goal.
Freshman San Jose State running back Steve Chavez-Soto had 14 carries for 51 yards in the loss. UNLV kicker Ramon Villela went 5-for-5 in extra points and scored a 44-yard field goal in the Rebels’ 38-10 victory over Hawai’i.
Bowling Green wide receiver RJ Garcia II had a 5-yard catch in a 19-16 loss to Akron. Quarterback Parker Navarro rushed for 81 yards on 14 carries while completing 3 of 8 pass attempts for 28 yards in Ohio’s 42-14 win over UMass.
Kent State defensive back Joel Cordoba recorded five tackles, and defensive lineman Josue Cordoba made three tackles. On offense, running back Gavin Garcia rushed for 77 yards on 15 carries as the Golden Flashes fell to Central Michigan 28-16.
David Amador II flies
Wide receiver David Amador II hauled in a 45-yard touchdown in UTSA’s 58-24 victory over East Carolina. The 6-foot, redshirt sophomore from Houston has scored all four of his touchdowns this season over the last four games, including one in each of the last two games.
Amador helped UTSA become eligible for a bowl game with the victory over East Carolina. North Texas defensive lineman Rudy Vargas Jr. recorded two tackles in a 56-24 win against Rice.
Wide receiver Jaylan Sanchez caught two passes for 24 yards for James Madison in a 24-20 win against Washington State. Troy defensive lineman Luis Medina recorded three tackles in a 31-19 win over Georgia State.
Kicker Tyler Robles made a 30-yard field goal and four PATs for Texas State. Defensive back Jaden Rios added three tackles, and David Nuñez punted four times for 174 yards with one landing inside the 20, as the Bobcats defeated UL Monroe 31-24.
UL Monroe quarterback Aidan Armenta completed 19 of his 26 pass attempts for 166 yards while rushing for 20 yards on four carries, including a 12-yard touchdown run.
Wide receiver Nic Trujillo hauled in three receptions for 29 yards in the loss. Defensive back Zedekiah Rodriguez-Brown made two tackles in New Mexico State’s 34-31 win over UTEP.
UTEP kicker Carlos Arreola went 4 for 4 on extra point kicks in the loss. Jacksonville State linebacker Jacob Cruz caught his first career interception while adding three tackles in a 27-21 loss to FIU. Temple linebacker Curly Ordoñez recorded two tackles in a 37-13 loss to Tulane.
UCF kicker Noe Ruelas was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week. He hit the winning 34-yard field goal to beat Oklahoma State 17-14.
Ruelas added two PATs. Oklahoma State quarterback Zane Flores was 13-of-28 for 124 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also had a six-yard touchdown run in the loss.
Carlos Leon-Trejo
Contributor
Carlos Leon-Trejo is a co-host on the Bring on the Blitz! podcast on the Our Esquina network. A graduate of the Texas A&M-Victoria, his reporting credits include major stages such as the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Big 12 Championship.
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