DeCosta was familiar with Pavia’s wrestling background. An Albuquerque, N.M., native, Pavia won the 195-pound state title as a senior. He received a partial scholarship offer from Nebraska to wrestle but chose football even though he was a no-star recruit.
From then on, he built a track record of winning jobs and winning games. Pavia started at New Mexico Military Institute and won the starting job as a true freshman. As a sophomore, he led New Mexico Military Institute to a 12-1 season, including the 2021 junior college national championship.
He transferred to New Mexico State and again won the starting job. In 2023, Pavia led the Aggies to a 10-win season, including a victory over Auburn, and was named the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.
He then transferred again to Vanderbilt and claimed the starting gig. Pavia spearheaded arguably the best back-to-back seasons in Vanderbilt history. The Commodores went 10-3 last season and were ranked as high as No. 9 in the AP poll.
“Vandy’s got a great head coach [Clark Lea]. I think he’s one of the best in college football,” DeCosta said. “Diego did a great job this year and Vandy had an amazing season.”
Fagnano is another intriguing undrafted quarterback, but with less glitz around his name.
He stands in at 6-foot-3 and had a phenomenal final season at Connecticut in which he threw for 3,448 yards and 28 touchdowns with just one interception. Fagnano’s accuracy took a big jump with a 69% completion rate, but he’s not much of a running threat.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked Fagnano as his 10th-best quarterback in this year’s class, six spots ahead of Pavia. What will likely be one of the Ravens’ more buzzworthy competitions this offseason kicks off Friday at the start of rookie minicamp.
“We feel really good about Lamar and we feel really good about ‘Snoop’ Huntley,” DeCosta said on WBAL Radio. “After that, it’s basically a contest to see who the best man is.”