Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia generated some headlines this past summer when he appeared on Bussin with the Boys and said that Vandy is going to “run Tennessee after this year”.

“Vanderbilt is gonna run Tennessee after this year,” said Pavia. “This is gonna be the new staple of college football. It’s going to happen here at Vanderbilt.”

“Everyone wants to come to [the state of] Tennessee because of Nashville,” continued Pavia. “They want to come to Nashville, so Vanderbilt [is in Nashville]. And then when we have the most money in NIL, like, why not come here? So, we literally just have to win this year, and throughout the rest of the year, it’ll take care of itself.”

As you can imagine, plenty of Tennessee Vols fans took issue with Pavia’s comments.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea, however, surprisingly wasn’t upset about what Pavia said on Bussin with the Boys.

Clark Lea gets real about Diego Pavia’s comments about Tennessee

Lea joined Bussin’ with the Boys this week and he was asked about the comments that Pavia made in June.

“First of all, he set a record for bulletin board material — I think we made history in that interview,” said Lea. “And it was interesting, I was traveling — I was going to see the Ravens for a day, and I had an interview that morning in my office. And I stay pretty insulated from all of it. I’m not on social media or whatever. I just kind of keep my head down and stay working. But the person I was speaking with mentioned that there was a lot of buzz about what he had said about Tennessee. I didn’t know anything about it. Well, he said something about running the state of Tennessee. Okay, well, we’ll deal with that. I land in Baltimore, and there’s a few other things that had come up. Okay, we’ll deal with that. I spend the day there. I fly back to Nashville and I land here, then there’s a few other things that [came up].

“And so he and I had a meeting at like 5:30 in the morning the next day. And honest to God, here’s my thought on it. First of all, Diego has earned the right to speak for himself — the world doesn’t need a watered down Diego Pavia. The world doesn’t need that. I mean, this guy has charisma and belief. I think too many people will whisper their beliefs and want to kind of walk in the shadows and not actually say what they want and go after what they want. And he’s a guy that does exactly that. And yet, I think there’s a balance here between being confident and having belief and also not being disrespectful to our opponents. And the bulletin board material stuff, I don’t really care. I don’t think that matters, but I do want this group to have a great respect for the teams we play against. And part of our respect is we’re going to do absolutely everything we can to win the game. And we are going to try to bury the opponent. I mean, that’s our attitude, that’s our mentality.”

“The beautiful thing about Diego is that he is totally humble in his process,” added Lea. “And he’s a quiet connector in this building. He’s so sincere and authentic, and he’s curious. He and I are more alike than we are not alike. I couldn’t imagine a better person to be taking the snaps for this program at this moment.”

I know there are mixed opinions on Pavia — especially in the state of Tennessee (depending on whether you root for the Vols or the Commodores). But I think he’s great for college football. I have a lot of respect for who he is as a competitor. And his candidness is something I think all sports fans can appreciate on some level. (No one wants more coach speak, right?)

Good on Clark Lea for letting Diego Pavia be Diego Pavia. As Lea said, the world doesn’t need a watered down Diego Pavia.

Part of what makes college football (and sports in general) so great are the diverse personalities. Whether it’s a buttoned up quarterback like Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck, or a wild card like Pavia, the student-athletes that put it all on the line each Saturday are the lifeblood of this sport.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see some interesting personalities in the sport and coaches who aren’t afraid to let players be themselves.

And by the way, if you’re a Vols fan who doesn’t like Pavia’s personality or Lea’s approach to “handling” the star quarterback, I’d ask you this: How would former Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello have “handled” him?

I think we all know the answer to that.

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