Diego Pavia Will Have his Work Cut Out for Him When He Arrives Trying to Win the QB 1 Job

Intro as spring practice rolls on the quarterbacks are developing all possibilities can be are going to be considered does Drew Dicky stand a chance man Diego pavi is gonna have his work cut out for him when he arrives in the summer let's kick it you are locked on Vandy your daily podcast on the Vanderbilt commodor part of the locked on podc podast Network your team every day welcome in to the lock on VY podcast on the lock on podcast Network I'm your host Cory Burton today we're going to explore all possibilities of the quarterback position this spring practice rolls on um so names like Drew Dicky and blae burwitz do do they have a chance well I do know this Deo pav is going to have his work really cut out for him when he arrives in the summer because these quarterbacks are are rolling so um also with the spring break series that I had that I ran with the uh the alltime Vandy cover stuff I'm going reveal the results of the the four polls that I created and instead of like narrowing it down to like one I just went ahead and made a cover so we'll see that and then lastly congrats to Bryce Cunningham for being named SEC pitcher of the week this pitching staff has become the unquestioned foundation of the team so so thanks for making lockon vity your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast down on YouTube as a part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day so QB Race as I said the quarterback race is very well let's just say it's getting interesting right I I guess that's the the best way to put it it's getting interesting because these guys are developing and these guys are starting to kind of understand the system these guys are starting to get comfortable and I'm talking about just Nate Johnson right um this race is going to come down to who has command of the offense who can who's the best throw who's the best passer I don't want to say thrower who's the best passer because there's a lot more to passing than just throwing so um who's going to who who can affect the game uh with their legs because I think quarterback run game is going to be going to be vital to what this offense does and wants to do and honestly who has the other intangible stuff that just can rally the guys around who has that it Factor you know and Diego Pavia certainly has it at factory you saw it when they beat Auburn so um but I'm not so sure this is a runaway for Diego pavio honestly I mean you see these reports I know they're like spring practice reports and I know like this is the time year that everyone everyone looks like an All-American everyone you know I realize all of that but that still doesn't doesn't hide the fact or it still doesn't take away from the fact that these guys are are balling these guys are are getting comfortable in the system so yeah none of these guys are going to be named starter coming out of out of spring practice I know that uh because they a want to give Diego Pavia a chance and B there's probably just not enough evaluation reps uh to be had uh in just 15 practice sessions with some of those being scrimmages for them to really kind of make a true decision especially with the new offensive coordinator if it was an established guy and there was two guys that were already in the system a year ago that they're competing and there there were some slightly different variables yeah they could probably name a starter coming out of spring but honestly it's it's wide open and and some of these guys have a chance and um not much film not much College film on Drew Dicky um a little bit of College film on blae berwitz um but I I do want to I don't want to leave those guys out um of of this discussion because like I don't think it's fair to them to leave them out of this discussion um I know they're probably considered more of long shots you know burwitz has a lot of potential but again he's just very young and and uh Drew Dicky again has a lot of potential but just has not for some reason been able to put it all together when it's when it comes that time so uh these guys are are really kind of getting a chance a clean slate if you will um to kind of show Tim back what what they have and what they bring to the table and and uh you know what and the the question and the question you'll see on the thumbnail does does Drew Dick you have a chance Drew Dick well honestly speaking I think he has a chance but like I still think it's a long shot because like I watched this tape and everything he does well he does he's he's very very solid but like I don't think there's a quality with with him and when you're in a tight race like this you've got to have there's got to be equ quality out there somewhere um that is far superior than those around you he runs well he's accurate he throws a good deep ball he has a good understanding uh mentally of the game of football I think I think this part of it is going to keep him involved in the race longer than anyone probably ever thought possible outside of his own family so um and and I I give kudos to him I and and in the the world of transfer portals and grad transfer things you know this he's putting from what I've heard he's putting together some really really good tape um if you know if this thing doesn't work out here in Nashville I don't know if he's I this is all this is based off absolutely nothing so don't don't run with it saying that hey Cory Burton says he's you know Drew Dicky's going to transfer not what I'm saying um I'm just saying if he does want to he has a lot of good tape out there if if that is an option that he would want to explore should this thing not not quite work out the way he wants it to um so but I mean honestly like again like the evaluation factors of it uh blae burwitz also is kind of stuck in that land of like he's good at everything and if some circumstances were difference he he would definitely be a starter uh he could definitely play uh for Vanderbilt but like with Diego Pavia coming in who started over him at New Mexico State who is an expert at the system uh with Nate Johnson coming in who's got Superior athleticism to everybody in the room um that does a lot of things well but is probably more raw as a passer so it's going to be kind of like okay do you want a guy that's solid at everything um do you want a guy that's extreme ex L gifted athletically and we can kind of just take you know take it as it comes with with all the other stuff like that's what the evaluation process is going to be like it's going to it's going to come down to like what do we want to live with like what and honestly the separator is probably going to be the intangible stuff it's probably going to be you know can he give us a chance to you know when it's two minutes to go fourth quarter B bull bid on the line in Jord Aire Blaze Behrens stadium is Drew Dicky or Blaze berwitz GNA come into that hle and those guys are going to look at him and say we're going to get this right that's the question that's got to be answered there's not enough reps right now to be able to answer that question he's not in that sit it's real hard to recreate that situation but like that's what they're going to evaluate like that's what I think is is going to happen and uh for any one of these underdogs to kind of sled into that uh conversation they're going to have to become exceptional at something whether it's mastering the Playbook whether whether it's you know um you you give them you give the coaches something in the Run game that the other quarterbacks can't or you know you give them a whole another dimension of the Playbook that no one else can do like no one else can provide better than you so you know if you're an underdog you have to be extra exceptional like you don't like some of these other guys uh get a little bit more leeway as an underdog you don't you don't really get leeway and so that's that's something that people have to understand about this racing about how how quarterback battles are are judged because the margin of error even for the top guys is about as Margin of Error thick as this piece of paper right here right it's about as thick as this Post-It note there ain't no margin for error for anybody it's a very very tight race and these guys all have to jockey for position these these three guys have to jockey for position um so that when Pavia comes in they give him something to to uh to come into and and they're doing a great job of it from from everything that I've heard they're developing very very well they're going to make this decision really tough on Tim Beck there's going to be some hard decisions coming down the pike like it's going to come down like we're not going to know until they begin game prep for for Virginia Tech probably um and that was probably plan all along but like these coaches are really going to have something to think about because like burwitz is turning out to be probably the best passer of the group from what I've heard or probably most consistent Nate Johnson has the highest ceiling with his athleticism um but probably has time to him and burwitz have probably the most time to develop um and then you know Drew Dicky has just been he's also been doing extremely well I mean I think this is a system that fits him and and part of that is just because the system gives Vandy an identity which I mean you can't you can't understate that just having an identity makes everybody better quarterbacks and gives everybody a situation to where they can succeed in so um with that I I think it's going to be a fair race because I think these guys are going to get their chances I think these guys are going to get chances to not just run the plays that are called and and say okay well you I mean leave it up to getting the the luck of the draw as far as the call sheet goes like I I think there's I think this coaching staff is good enough to have tailored plans for what these guys do well and I think they probably spent the first week trying to figure out okay Drew Dicky is good at XYZ okay uh you know Nate Johnson is good at you know TRW uh and blae burwitz is good at ABC right and so like they they list these qualities out and then Tim Beck probably goes into system is like okay well you know we're going to give Nate this set of plays we're going to give blae this set of plays we're going to give uh Drew this set of plays and we're going to see what they do so again I I think it's a really good indicator of what they can Kurt Page do and I think it's going to be something that is to be monitored and I'm gonna have Kurt Page on later on this week um hopefully on tomorrow's episode for like a little midweek um bananza here with with Kurt pige but um you know I'm going to talk to him about kind of the the updates of the quarter battles and just just really kind of what he sees and what he's hearing he's got his ear even more to the to uh to the beat than than I do so um it'll be fun to hear from him it's always good to talk ball with Kurt Page I mean I I coached with him him and I kind of see eye to eye on a lot of lot of Concepts and things like that so it'll be be a lot of fun uh to catch up with Kurt uh once again so um but this this quarterback race is going to come down to uh you it's going to be fun it's going to be fun to see and uh we're going to we're going to get this thing they're going to get this thing right and and whoever wins it is going to win it it's not going to be like uh you know I feel like in years past it was kind of like uh you you know like blindfold you and like Pinn the tail on the quarterback right like that's who starts it just kind of felt like that it didn't feel like they had a plan they didn't have an identity or whatever and that's probably why that's probably what shook Clark Lee awake truthfully which is a good thing glad it happened for you know I think Clark Le is a good coach I was a little leery of him his head coaching abilities but you know different topic different day he's really kind of come out of a shell a little bit which is good so anyway I did a four point I did a four-part series where you voted on alltime players that would uh that would land themselves on the cover of EA Sports college football 25 we're going to talk about those results next [Music] all right LinkedIn jobs when you're hiring for your small LinkedIn Ad businesses you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role that's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help find the right Professionals for your team faster and for free LinkedIn isn't just another job board LinkedIn has a vast network of more than a billion professionals which makes it the best place to hire it gives you access to professionals you can't find anywhere else LinkedIn does all of that while making the process easy and intuitive hiring is easy when you've H when you have that many quality candidates so easy in fact that 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours LinkedIn knows that small businesses are wearing so many hats and might not have the time or resources to hire LinkedIn is constantly finding ways to make the process easier they even just launched a feature that helps you write job descriptions make making the process even easier and quicker 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring so post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon col that's linkedin.com lockon col to post your job for free terms and conditions apply all right all right welcome back to segment Locked on Sports Today number two locked on Vandy podcast on the locked on on podcast Network are you watching Fox Sports or ESP been on your TV all day you have to turn down the volume with all that shouting make the switch to locked on sports today a free 247 sports streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or free at the Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day so um talking about the EA Sports cover that this this project was a lot of fun uh this this whole series it was a it was a a pre-recorded vacation series uh that that I had um where I could have a little fun uh in early March with uh you know pre stack getting fired which the timing of all that happened perfectly as far as timing for like programming on the show but um this was a lot of fun narrowing it down kind of seeing you guys opinions I I first reached out and asked you know get a idea and a consensus for like 12 names there was you know there was some disagreements and some guys that probably were left off like uh Javon Haye uh kesan vau uh some of the some of the older players Kurt paage um was was probably left out um and shouldn't have been like there were some guys that probably if the list was expanded a little differently like if we did position list they probably would would have made it but um you know had to had to you know with 12 you you know you have to cut somebody so um it sucks but you know it just has to be done so I ran uh ran polls and this is the the four daily winners so what I was going to do was going to uh uh create this cover um based on um after I named the four daily winners I was going to put them against each other and and do like a solo winner so um that didn't necessarily well I mean it worked well but then I started putting together the cover and well I had a student involved I teach you know where where I teach and uh student by the name of joshan Grace um he uh he created this cover for me gave him the project told him what I wanted uh and this is what came Poll Results about so behold uh the results of the polls you have J Jordan Matthews uh Jamie winborne and Earl Bennett those were the those were the those were the winners and this background image behind Earl and Jamie windborn is just a kind of a stock Vandy photo kind of a cool looking shot this black and white but this is uh this was a really really good job uh done by Joan it's you know he captured the true essence of this uh of this cover um did a really really outstanding job with the you know just kind of the uh compositing he found some really great images I didn't feed him these images at all he just found some really really good ones that that worked like this Jay Cutler one is outstanding it kind of fits perfectly with uh with Jordan Matthews and just kind of the way they're posed they're they're contrasting there you have the two star v's and the two different helmets and then like you have the different the different things going on which is which is outstanding and then uh you know Earl Bennett you know the way he's positioned and things like that I mean this this thing just worked man and when I saw this I was like well there's no need to carry it any further uh than this because this is absolutely perfect so this was the result of those shows so if you're so if you were sitting back and wondering what the heck were you you know what the heck was the point of those shows I just wanted to have a little fun uh talk about some things that weren't like analysis analysis analysis analysis analysis like speculation speculation speculation um it was a little bit of a slow time because it was right before um stack house got let go um spring practice hadn't started yet so the football stories were were dry and a little rerun and uh baseball was um you know baseball was was going but they were they were still you know they were playing Illinois state or something like that coming weekend so it's like not you know you know when I recorded these it wasn't like I was uh you know it was Earth shattering uh so this is this is a result of it and this is something that that I enjoyed doing that uh joean I know enjoyed doing and this was a this was a fun project to kind of like put this together it was fun to talk about all these guys I mean all all 12 of these guys deserve to be on this cover if we're being honest I mean there's some you know there's some guys some of the left out guys also guys that didn't make the 12 also deserve to be on this cover too but um and I can have him make different covers of different combinations of fny athletes and things like that to show you guys but this is kind of where it's at and this is this is this was a lot of fun and this was something that I enjoyed talking about uh something I enjoyed learning about like some of the players and what they accomplished at Vanderbilt some of the ones I didn't know like Corey Chavis and Jamie Winborn and I didn't know a whole lot about their college playing days um because you know I didn't see I didn't see them or were or were aware of them until they got to the NFL Jamie Duncan was somebody uh that kind of made the list um some of the offensive linemen uh I saw Jordan Matthews Earl Bennett and Jay Cutler play I was in college uh when Cutler was coming through and then uh T you know the very beginning of Earl Bennett and then like Jordan Matthews I saw him when I was up here in Nashville um with with James Franklin things like that so this was uh again this was one of those that was just kind of kind of fun to put together and uh it it uh came together pretty quickly um the two on the front cover uh won by the largest margins uh and then the two on the back cover one but not not as big of a margin so um this was uh you know just learning some things about them stat-wise just how big of an impact a lot of these guys had on their teams and things like that so um that's it right there that's the cover of EA Sports college football 2 five if it were reflective of an all-time Vandy player so um pitching has been uh has been outstanding for Vanderbilt I mean that you can't get it much better uh with the pitching staff uh had a very Stellar weekend against Missouri uh tends to be has been the foundation of the team this entire year and has only gotten better and there's been a couple injuries but they've shuffled some things around and they've added some quality key depth so we'll talk about that here in just a eBay Motors minute all right talking about eBay Motors passion drive and patience is the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber not cash with all the parts needed at the prices that you want it's easy to make your C the MVP and bring home that H and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers all right here we go uh third and final segment here on the locked on VY podcast on the locked on podcast Network thank you for making us your first listen each and every day thank you to the every dayers you can follow the show on social media lockon Vandy on X and Instagram uh follow us there uh here's my ex account coach Burton 336 and coach Burton on Instagram so uh first of all this pitching staff is outstanding all right uh and second of all this pitching staff wouldn't be outstanding without the brilliant efforts of one Bryce Cunningham he was named SEC pitcher of the week um as as of um this a or this morning on Monday uh Cunningham he pitched seven scoreless Innings registered 12 strikeouts while allowing just one hit on Friday night vers Missouri Cunningham allowed just three base runners over seven innings in route to the his fourth win of the season um and his 12 strikeouts LED all SEC pitchers on the week so uh he's been somebody that's been brilliant all year um and not always has it led to wins because either errors or run support or uh some you know one bad luck inning that that gets him behind but um for the most part Bryce Cunningham has been absolutely outstanding and it it's just kind of a microcosm of the depth that this pitching staff is displayed um and this is uh this is going to come well this is going to bode well for uh for postseason time because like hit like teams that that hit that have okay decent pitching don't usually make it very far and Vanderbilt knows that and Vanderbilt has built around their pitching St they have don't get me wrong venerol has really really good hitters they have hitters that can that can get you in trouble um and make you pay if you make mistakes as an opposing pitcher but I with with some of the scores some of the Run outputs and the Run totals from this weekend against a very subpar Missouri team um leads me to believe that pitching is giving them an opportunity to work through some of these slumps occasionally they will break out but this is probably a very very streaky situation and I said this on yesterday's show and and uh it was in response to an ARA Garrison post uh from from X that this uh that that the hitters you get in college probably aren't as consistent um as you would in the major leagues because it's a ceiling floor situation you have a high floor uh with probably a that probably usually comes with a low ceiling or you have a high ceiling with an extremely low floor which gives you a lot out of this you know you know four for four for the cycle boom 0 for 0 for five with five strikeouts three for four with three doubles and like seven runs batted in three strikeouts a walk and and a ground out you know just like those type of performances so in order to kind of win with that and a lot of a lot of these teams face that inconsistency because if they didn't those guys would be probably playing in the major leagues but to uh to fight against that I think you have to find and develop good pitching in order to do so you have to have guys that are willing to start midweek and play roles within the bullpen which it's with with the more and more specialization in uh in sports especially baseball you're starting to get the idea that like there's specialty pitchers like hey I only throw out of the pin or I only throw in the seventh inning or if I don't start I'm gonna be crap you know like that kind of thing and it's really hard to transition like you start you start a game on Wednesday and then Saturday you're you're called in in the eighth inning with two Runners on and one out and you got to get out of this Jam well you gotta crank up like that right you got to flip your mind on you go you got to get into it like that starters have a mentality of they just kind of they just kind of GrooVe their way into the game and you know by the by the second third inning they're kind of dialed in first inning if they can get through unscathed it's like freaking house money almost you can't do that as a reliever and you have to switch mindsets which is really really difficult to do really tough to do so um I'm impressed with some of these guys that can do that like Ethan mlan um being at you know JD Thompson you know those those two Especial they can be midweek starter guys and then come come out of the pin and Pitch Quality quality Innings um and and that's what kind of helps your foundational thing like that's what helps make pitching your extremely rock solid foundation because you have a really good pen and you have a really good uh list of starters which you have a really good spot starter in Grayson Carter Devin futral uh did not start this weekend um but uh you know you had Grayson Carter Carter Holton and Cunningham uh getting starts this weekend so you're starting to see uh you're starting to see Tim Corin play around with that a little bit and and and toy with the rotations and things I don't know if that seven strikeout uh eight in the third inning appearance that Grayson Carter had on Thursday will keep him in the starting rotation this weekend this coming weekend in the series in this in this weekend series but I don't know I don't know what he's going to do that's a that's a tough decision but come postseason baseball you're going to need futral Carter Holton and Cunningham all to be pitching on point as starters because you're going to like over the gauntlet of an SEC tournament Over The Gauntlet of a regional Over The Gauntlet of a Super Regional you're going to need your pen and you can't have your pen pitching four or five innings day in and day out right you canot have those guys pitching like that you have to have starters that can go deep which Vanderbilt is now conditioning those guys to be able to go deep into games and they're and they're actually paying off right all three wins starter goes deep you know goes deep into the game and that's what you need like you need those to preserve these Bullpen guys because these Bullpen guys are going to be you know the starters are extremely vital because if they don't score in the first seven Innings they they kind of lose momentum but like you put the wrong Bullpen guy in like you you come out of the pin and you're having an off night that game can turn just like that boom and uh it can turn on a dime so never uh never take that for granted honestly but uh you know I you know as a baseball fan I love pitching and what pitching does and what pitching means uh to a series what it means to postseason play things like that because pitching you know the top you know the saying uh Money Talks BS walks that is uh that is the sign like pitching pitching is the money hitting is the you know or they say in golf uh dry for show put for dough you know dry for show pitch for dough you can use that saying if you want to but uh anyway with that P is the foundation Bryce Cunningham is he's he was a dog this weekend and hopefully that's uh that's something that can continue for uh for this pitching staff so with that being said we're going to get out of here I'm G to get out of here um we'll see you back here tomorrow hopefully with Kurt pagee got him on the hook for one of these days this week I believe so we'll hear from him and uh and we'll have more Spring football talk some hopefully some more basketball news and definitely more baseball so uh with that being said we'll see you back here tomorrow but until then behave yourself and anchor down