Christopher Vizzina Commits to Clemson Tigers

Clemson lands the commitment from Quarterback Christopher Vizzina for the 2023 recruiting class! He joins the solitary commitment in the class, WR Nathaniel Joseph, who committed a half a year ago! (insert old lady Titanic gif that describes how long it feels like Clemson had recruiting momentum and how long QT has been away from posting...)

Vizzina hails from Birmingham, AL, and Briarwood Christian High School. Clemson had to fend off plenty of competition for Christopher, but the primary suitors pecking at Clemson’s heels were Auburn and probably Ole Miss. He had a top six of Clemson, Georgia, Auburn, Ohio State, Ole Miss, and Notre Dame. Clemson benefited from Notre Dame going fully after Dante Moore and Ohio State also wanting to ride that recruitment out. Other top suitors like Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State wanted to ride out the Arch Manning sweepstakes. Clemson wisely cut bait and went all-in with Vizzina. Clemson wasn’t going to land Arch after last season and the offensive ineptitude shown the Mannings. Good strategic recruiting decision!

WHAT CLEMSON GETS

You need a QB to really help anchor your class and solidify your standing. This was key and is the start of at least three prospects that are on the cusp of committing. Good recruiting news is coming in bunches.

Looking at the QBs available, Vizzina is the number 52nd ranked player in the composite and the 7th overall QB. Clemson was not going to get Arch and was not going to pay 8 million dollars through an NIL collective for another prospect. Others were regional matches that would have been hard pulls or already committed. Vizzina was the guy Clemson needed to land to maintain their run of QB recruiting (and last year showed just how important that is for the stability of your program—good QB play masks a lot of roster deficiencies/scheme shortcomings). Stringing together Klubnik and then Vizzina allows Clemson to stack QB talent—something that absolutely has to happen if you aren’t going to grab portal QBs (kinda true at every position now but really true for QB).

Oh and look—I screwed up the time zone (Central time zone—really??)!

Quick and dirty—Vizzina is more of a pocket passer than an athlete. He shows good mobility in the pocket and can escape against HS competition but he isn’t a TL, DW, or Cade. He is going to effectively scramble though and make you say some horrid cliche like sneaky athletic. He is legit 6’3, maybe even 6’4 and has good size for the position already. He is going to have to develop with his short game and some intermediate passing concepts. I have seen 7 on 7 footage where he is hitting everything and then some shaky performances. He has the arm strength though to make all the throws and I like his deep ball, particularly under duress (on film he is under duress a good bit making off balance throws on the run and using different arm angles).

I think he is appropriately ranked around 50. He isn’t a sure-fire 5* talent but he is an elite talent that is top 5ish in the class at the QB position in my book and the correct fit for Clemson. In the NIL era that means a lot! Look for more recruiting action in the near future!