Going into spring practice, Dabo Swinney was hoping that redshirt freshman Christopher Vizzina would show continued growth this spring as he got more reps behind starting quarterback Cade Klubnik.

Ten practices in, Clemson’s head coach loves what he’s seen from the Tigers’ backup quarterback in that regard.

“To see where he is, that’s probably been the biggest plus for us this spring is seeing him and seeing his confidence, seeing his grasp, his understanding,” Swinney said of Vizzina following Wednesday’s scrimmage.

“All of us expected to see what we’re seeing out of Cade. We weren’t sure with CV (Vizzina). Through 10 practices, he’s given all of us a little bit of a ‘take a deep breath.’ I feel good about this kid, man. He looks like the guy that we thought he would be when we recruited him. So, I’m happy for him, excited for him.”

At the outset of spring practice, Swinney said it was Vizzina’s job to prove to the Tigers by the end of spring ball that he can not only compete with Klubnik, but also win games for Clemson if his number is called upon.

Based on what Swinney has seen from Vizzina so far this spring, Swinney feels the Tigers can win with Vizzina at QB if needed.

“Yeah, I do,” Swinney said. “Not that he’s Joe Montana, but he’s been impressive in his understanding. And he’s made some mistakes. He’s had a few post-snap things here or there. But again, he just gets better every day.”

A former top-50 national prospect, Vizzina enrolled at Clemson in January 2023 and played only nine snaps while redshirting last season.

Vizzina didn’t get many practice reps, either, as he was behind Klubnik, Hunter Helms (who transferred to Rhode Island this offseason) and Paul Tyson (Clemson’s third-string QB last season who is now a student coach and emergency fourth-string QB).

But this spring, Vizzina has been getting the second-team reps behind Klubnik, and his development has been encouraging for Swinney and the Tigers.

“He just gets more and more confident with his reps, and that’s really what he needed,” Swinney said. “We just couldn’t give him that in the fall because we were redshirting him, and we just couldn’t give him what he needed then. So he had to mentally really get most of it, because Hunter was our two. He was definitely our two, and Paul was our three. So this has been really good for him, and man, he’s just blossoming. We’ll see how it goes the rest of the way, but after 10 practices… he hasn’t flinched. He’s gotten better each and every day, and that’s what we needed to see.”

Swinney added that Vizzina — who threw for 7,220 yards and had 59 touchdown passes during his prep career in Alabama, to go with 29 rushing touchdowns – is showing why the Tigers recruited him.

“We thought he was one of the best players in the country coming out of high school, and he looks that way on the practice field, just with his skills and how he moves and how he’s throwing the football,” Swinney said. “So, his confidence is really, really growing, and that’s been great because we need that.”

Clemson needed to see Vizzina take another step forward in spring practice, and the Tigers’ No. 2 signal-caller has done that to this point.

“We all know that you’re one rolled ankle away, right. You better have somebody else that can go in there and win, and he’s earning our trust through 10 practices,” Swinney said. “Again, a ways to go, but we’re thinking about between now and August, he’s going to get another whole summer, another fall camp. If he stays on the track, then he’s going to be able to help us.”

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