Andre Ware knows a thing or two about the Canadian Football League.
The 1989 Heisman winner played three seasons up north with the Ottawa Rough Riders, BC Lions, and Toronto Argonauts after his NFL career stalled out in Detroit. So when Ware offered his assessment of Tommy Castellanos and Diego Pavia during Friday’s Florida State-North Carolina State broadcast, he was speaking from experience.
“I spoke to a scout, or actually a general manager in Canada, about Tommy Castellanos, and they think he could go there and play for as long as he wants in the CFL,” Ware said. “I don’t know what his aspirations are, in terms of the NFL, but he and Diego Pavia at Vanderbilt can play a long time up north.”
It’s not an insult or at least wasn’t intended as one, anyway.
Ware wasn’t dismissing either quarterback’s abilities or suggesting they can’t make it at the next level. He was pointing out what scouts are already talking about — both Castellanos and Pavia have skill sets that translate extremely well to the CFL’s wide-open, run-and-shoot style of play.
Castellanos is a 5-foot-9 dual-threat quarterback who thrived at Boston College before Bill O’Brien benched him midseason, and he transferred to Florida State. In his 2023 season with the Eagles, he threw for 2,248 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for 1,113 yards and 13 scores. He led all FBS quarterbacks in rushing yards that season and was one of just two quarterbacks — along with Heisman winner Jayden Daniels — to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000.
Pavia is similarly dynamic. The 5-foot-11 Vanderbilt quarterback has led the Commodores to a 9-2 record and a spot in the College Football Playoff conversation. He’s thrown for over 2,900 yards and 26 touchdowns this season while adding 661 rushing yards and eight more scores on the ground. He beat Alabama, upset Auburn three times in his career, and just broke Vanderbilt‘s single-game passing record with 484 yards against Kentucky on Saturday.
Both quarterbacks are mobile and creative, and they excel when plays break down. Those traits play extremely well in the CFL, where the field is wider, there are 12 players on each side, and the emphasis is on spacing and speed rather than power. The league has been a proving ground for undersized, athletic quarterbacks who didn’t fit the traditional NFL mold.
Ware wasn’t saying Castellanos and Pavia can’t play in the NFL. He was saying they have options. If the NFL route doesn’t work out immediately, both quarterbacks have the skill sets to go north, dominate for years, and potentially earn another shot at the league. Ware did it himself, backing up Flutie in Toronto before brief stints with the Raiders and in NFL Europe.
Castellanos and Pavia both have NFL aspirations — that’s the ultimate goal for any college quarterback with their talent. But if that path doesn’t open up right away, they have the athleticism, arm talent, and football IQ to thrive in a league that values exactly what they do best.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.