Photo courtesy of Todd Kwarcinski
Christopher Vizzina is set to start for Clemson this week. Photo courtesy of Todd Kwarcinski.
Briarwood Christian School alum Christopher Vizzina has been named Clemson's starting quarterback, head coach Dabo Swinney announced this week, ahead of the No. 11 Tigers' road opener against LSU.
The 6-foot-4 quarterback has appeared in 14 games for Clemson, completing 64 of 105 passes for 596 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. His lone career start came last season against SMU, when he completed 29 of 42 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the first Clemson quarterback since Deshaun Watson in 2014 to throw at least three touchdown passes in a first career start.
Vizzina arrived at Clemson as a five-star prospect and a top-50 national recruit out of Briarwood, according to multiple recruiting services. PrepStar rated him the No. 31 overall player in the nation, Sports Illustrated's SI99 ranked him 35th, and ESPN.com slotted him at No. 38 overall and the nation's seventh-best quarterback. 247Sports ranked him No. 54 overall, and On3 had him at No. 60.
Over his Briarwood career, Vizzina completed 561 of 865 passes for 7,220 yards and 59 touchdowns, adding 29 rushing touchdowns for 88 total touchdowns.
As a senior, he completed 64.1 percent of his passes (161 of 251) for 1,828 yards and 16 touchdowns, while also rushing for 341 yards and 11 scores, totaling 2,169 yards of offense in nine games. He turned in one of his best performances against Pelham, Swinney's alma mater, completing 22 of 27 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a career-high 140 yards on 20 carries against Oak Mountain, and in his final high school game, against Fairhope, he passed for 327 yards and two touchdowns to go with a rushing score.
As a junior in 2021, Vizzina completed 68.4 percent of his passes (134 of 196) for 2,065 yards and 16 touchdowns against just four interceptions. He also rushed for 600 yards and 15 touchdowns, finishing with 2,665 yards of total offense in 11 games as Briarwood went 10-2. He threw for three touchdowns against Woodlawn, five against Huffman and 232 yards against Shades Valley that season.
As a freshman in 2019, Vizzina completed 93 of 159 passes for 1,176 yards and 11 touchdowns as Briarwood went 12-2.
Swinney said the decision to name Vizzina the starter came after a competition that included true freshman Tait Reynolds.
“CV will start for us this week,” Swinney said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “He’s earned that.”
Swinney praised Vizzina’s consistency throughout preseason practice.
“CV has just been incredibly steady,” Swinney said. “He’s just put his head down and gone to work.”
Clemson kicks off at LSU on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 6:30 p.m. The game can be seen on ABC.
Information courtesy of Clemson Athletics.
