If you’re a Vanderbilt football fan — or if you’ve watched a single Vanderbilt football game this season — there’s a good chance you’re familiar with quarterback Diego Pavia’s mom.
Antoinette Padilla has been in the stands supporting her son all season, and the TV cameras have a funny way of finding her. As the Commodores took down Kentucky, 45-17, on Saturday, November 22 to improve to 9-2, ESPN cut to the stands frequently as Padilla, clad in cowboy boots, danced, cheered and set social media ablaze.
While she has plenty of fans, it doesn’t appear that ESPN college football analyst Joey Galloway is one of them.
“Is there a camera on Pavia’s mother the entire game?” he asked fellow ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit on the Monday, November 24, episode of their “Nonstop” podcast. “I’m just wondering. Just a question. Not saying it gets on my nerves. Just asking a question.”
“Can you put in a request … not every play,” added Galloway, 54. “I love the story. I love the family. Not every play.”
Donna Kelce, Wilma McNabb and more moms of pro football players were their sons’ No. 1 fans long before their NFL days. Travis and Jason Kelce’s mother found herself in the spotlight leading up to Super Bowl LVII in February 2023, which marked the first time brothers played against one another in the championship game. […]
Galloway isn’t alone. As one Tennessee fan wrote via X during the game, he finds her “more insufferable than her son,” which is no small feat considering the Volunteers and Commodores are fierce in-state rivals.
Padilla made headlines before the game even started, joining her son on the field for Vanderbilt’s Senior Day ceremony, accompanied by comedian Theo Vonn. Their relationship dates back to September when Pavia, 23, jokingly promised Vonn, 45, a date with his mother if Vanderbilt defeated South Carolina. The Commodores won the game, 31-7.
Vonn appeared on the SEC Network broadcast of the game, where he talked about potentially marrying Padilla, a nurse.
“My goal is, I would like to marry a nurse one day,” he said. “I don’t even know if I’d do it. I like being [Pavia’s] friend. I don’t want to end up being like his stepdad or something.”
After the Kentucky game, Vonn took to X to clarify that he and Padilla are not an item.
“Never got the date, but did develop a friendship with the greatest family in college sports!” he wrote. “God Bless the Pavias!”
Padilla and Vonn had plenty to celebrate on Saturday as Pavia had the game of his life against the Wildcats. He threw for five touchdowns and set Vanderbilt’s single-game record with 484 passing yards.
He has credited his mom before for instilling a work ethic that got him to where he is — as a real candidate to win the Heisman Trophy.
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“My mom, she’s hard-hat, lunch-pail. She grew up with 13 brothers and sisters in a single home,” Pavia told The Athletic in 2024.
Pavia said he didn’t realize until he got older that on nights when Padilla said she wasn’t hungry or ate very little dinner, it was really so she could ensure all her kids had enough to eat.
The Commodores will close the regular season at Tennessee on Saturday, November 29. A win would put Paavia and Vanderbilt in the driver’s seat for a College Football Playoff bid.
