Shannon Sharpe calls out Diego Pavia for losing “moral consciousness” after Heisman loss as Vanderbilt QB issues apology after major backlash

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia has been in the news for his controversial remark on social media after finishing second to Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza in the Heisman Trophy race.

Despite his impressive season, Pavia finished a distant second to Mendoza, who led the Hoosiers to a 13-0 record and the Big Ten Championship. Mendoza received 189 first-place votes, compared to Mendoza’s 643 votes.

Following his loss, Pavia shared a controversial message in a now-deleted Instagram post.

"F-ALL THE VOTERS, BUT.....FAMILY FOR LIFE," Mendoza wrote in the post.

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While Pavia issued an apology on X for his outburst, NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe called out the Heisman finalist on his "Nightcap" podcast with Chad Johnson.

"Somehow, somewhere along the lines, Ocho, we lost our moral consciousness; we lost it, because we will say anything. ...I don't know when civility went away, but you know civility is gone now."

Meanwhile, Johnson, who also goes by Ocho, said that he understood Pavia's frustration, but the Vanderbilt quarterback should've shared his reaction with his friends and family instead of social media.

Apart from apologizing to fans on social media for his initial reaction, Pavia also apologized to the Heisman Trophy winner.

"Fernando Mendoza is an elite competitor and a deserving winner of the award. I have nothing but respect for his accomplishments as well as the success that Jeremiyah [Love] and Julian [Sayin] had this season," Pavia wrote.

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NFL analyst Pat McAfee shares grim message for Diego Pavia after Heisman controversy

Diego Pavia's controversial remark has seemingly outdone his work on the field during the 2025 season. NFL broadcaster Pat McAfee shared a stern message following Pavia's comments.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anybody have a bigger heel-turn in one weekend than Diego Pavia,” McAfee said. “Anybody who’s flashy and talks a lot of shit is going to be hated by a group of people regardless. But then this weekend, with how it all went, I think a lot of people kind of turned on Diego Pavia. “… I saw a lot of people saying, ‘Let’s make sure we keep this energy that we had for Shedeur Sanders doing in the Draft that we have for Diego Pavia.’ I don’t think anybody’s really talking about Diego Pavia being in the NFL, period.”

Pavia led the SEC with a 71.2% completion rate with 27 touchdowns, 3,192 passing yards. He rushed for 826 yards on 152 attempts and had nine rushing TDs.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash