Tennessee running back Star Thomas has had a long road to get to UT. After starting at the junior college level at Coffeyville CC, he transferred to New Mexico State. From 2022-23, he shared the backfield with current Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
This gave him plenty of time to get an up-close view of Pavia as his teammate. Before Pavia exploded onto the scene as the passionate signal caller of the Commodores, he helped NMSU go 7-6, then 10-5 under Jerry Kill. After two years with the Aggies, Thomas and Pavia went their separate ways. Pavia went to Vandy while Thomas went to Duke for a year before finding his way to UT.
Thomas enjoyed his time playing with Pavia and thinks there’s some similarities to Aguilar. The confidence both emit can be contagious.
“Yeah, he was great, man,” Thomas said. “He was funny. He was a dog. He came in every day ready to work. He got that mindset, can’t nobody mess with him. Whatever it is, he’s going to win. It kind of fell back on me a little, too. I picked up on some of the things that he had. When you got a quarterback like that, it’s good, man, to have that kind of mindset that he has. Joey has that same mindset. There ain’t nobody that I feel is better than me when I touch this field. Who wouldn’t want to go out there and play with a quarterback like that?”
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The difference is in how they express their confidence. Pavia will let you hear all about it right away. Aguilar is more to himself for the most part, but he’ll talk his talk a bit, as well.
“They’re different in that way. Pavia is more of a I’m gonna let you know it,” Thomas said. “Joey is more of a laid back but you’re going to hear about it after the game.”
The quarterbacks are set to meet in the final game of the regular season in Knoxville. Both are off to strong starts with the Vols at 2-1 and a loss to Georgia and the Commodores at 3-0. Kickoff between the squads in the annual rivalry game is set for Nov. 29 with an afternoon start time. There is no TV designation determined yet.
