Plenty of quarterbacks have come through Dabo Swinney Camp, but none saw the attention that New Orleans (La.) Isidore Newman 2023 five-star QB Arch Manning received.

While Manning was as good as advertised, it was his counterpart and workout partner, who exceeded the expectations of Dabo Swinney and Clemson quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter.

Birmingham (Ala.) Briarwood Christian 2023 QB Christopher Vizzina is quite familiar with the Clemson program already. Being from Birmingham, he knows all about Swinney, who actually went to high school with his father, albeit Clemson’s head coach is two years older.

In addition, Tigers redshirt freshman offensive lineman Trent Howard was Vizzina’s left tackle at Briarwood Christian for the latter’s freshman season of high school. 

“I got to see everything, the whole facilities and it’s just amazing,” Vizzina told The Clemson Insider. “The thing is, you walk around, see all the nice stuff they have and everyone’s super happy to be there.”

Vizzina had the opportunity to meet Swinney for the first time and reunited with his left tackle, who took him for a tour around campus.

Vizzina said he started to take notice of not just how great the athletes are at Clemson, but how good the people are too.

Clemson has been following Vizzina since his freshman year, but he came to Swinney Camp with something to prove.

“They had a certain level they saw me at,” he said. “After the day, I went to both sessions and they put me with Arch Manning, so everybody was watching me and him.”

Both Swinney and Streeter came away impressed with what Vizzina showcased, he went beyond both of their expectations. They both said that Vizzina moved up in their Class of 2023 quarterback rankings, with Streeter telling the Alabama QB that he’s top-5 now.

“It was definitely worth the trip to come up there and prove myself because I played beyond their expectations,” he added.

Vizzina knew he had something to prove this summer after not being able to camp due to the pandemic last year. He got a chance to compete with Manning, who many consider as the top quarterback in the country for the 2023 Class.

Swinney and Streeter put Vizzina with Manning, and all eyes were on the two quarterbacks as they did 1-on-1s at the end of the day, throwing deep passes to the receivers.

“I learned how I stack up against the top recruits in the country and then I got the high-level coaching from Coach Streeter and Coach Swinney,” he said.

“That was big because honestly Clemson, I can definitely see myself playing there,” Vizzina said of him getting to compete with Manning. “Going in there, I was like, ‘ yeah I may wanna come here one day, so I gotta show what I can do.’ For the whole day, I showed what I could do.”

Vizzina got the feedback he was hoping to hear and now he can call Streeter whenever he wants.

“If they were to offer me, I’m not saying I would commit or anything, but it would be a big deal for me, just with how many connections I have there,” he said. “That would mean a lot.”

Right now, Vizzina does hold a decent amount of Power 5 offers, though. He’s received offers from Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Kentucky, Michigan State and Mississippi State.

He compared his style of play to that of Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen.“I would describe myself as a Pro-Style quarterback, but I would say that I am the most athletic Pro-Style quarterback,” Vizzina said. “I’m not a dual-threat, I don’t run a 4.5 or anything like that, but I’m athletic and I can extend plays.”

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