Alabama captain reacts to Diego Pavia practicing victory formation kneel in warmups

Photo By Brian Pride - Touchdown Alabama

In pregame warmups, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia took snaps in victory formation where he took a knee, even throwing the football in the air as a potential pre-planned celebration.

Unlike the 2024 meeting between Alabama and Vanderbilt, the 24-year-old quarterback did not get the opportunity to take a fourth-quarter knee as the Alabama Crimson Tide won the game by 16 points.

After the game, Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan was asked about Pavia practicing his victory formation kneel before the game.

“You know, he has his routine,” Keenan said. “He does his thing. You still got to play the game at the end of the day. He’s a good player. They’re a good football team, but you know, you see what happen today.”

Pavia and the Commodores were on top of the college football world after defeating Alabama in 2024. They moved from the shadow to the spotlight after taking down the No.1 team in the land, and ahead of the rematch with the Crimson Tide, the players were talking with a confidence that comes after slaying the giant.

Comments arose from the veteran Vanderbilt players, including Pavia. He told On3’s Chris Low if Vanderbilt plays within the white lines and plays their game, it “won’t be close.”

With today’s age of social media and comments that are considered “rat poison” like this one, Keenan told reporters what he said to his teammates this week as an Alabama captain.

“We’ve been doing this for the past couple of weeks, just going in there, handling business, and we getting on,” Keenan said. “Man may say a lot of things, but what did God say about you? God woke you up to have these abilities to go out here and play and have fun. Focus on what God said, not necessarily what man said.”

Alabama did not handle the disrespect they received from Florida State early in the season accordingly, but the Vanderbilt noise was handled on Saturday afternoon as the Crimson Tide gave the Commodores their first loss of the 2025 season.