No matter how Clemson’s quarterback battle shakes out, head coach Dabo Swinney believes the Tigers will be better because of it.

Swinney joined national analyst Josh Pate’s college football show and gave some thoughts on the Tigers’ quarterback competition coming out of spring ball and heading into the summer.

Redshirt junior Christopher Vizzina is currently still in the “pole position” for the starting job in 2026, as Swinney said after Clemson’s spring game on March 28, while Swinney deemed  true freshman Tait Reynolds the clear No. 2 after Vizzina in the current competition.

“Now we’re coming out with some clarity, and we’ve got two really good players that are going to go compete,” Swinney said in his interview with Pate.

“And either way, we’re going to get better. [If] CV holds this kid off, and he’s earned it. [If] Tait beats him out, then — because CV ain’t going to back up [in the QB battle]. So either way, we get better there.”

Vizzina has served as Cade Klubnik’s backup for multiple years. Before enrolling at Clemson in January 2023, Vizzina was ranked among the nation’s top prospects in the 2023 recruiting class. The high four-star had more than 30 offers, including from some of the best football programs in the country.

Heading into 2026 after his first three years at Clemson from 2023-25, Vizzina has completed 61 percent of his passes for 596 yards and four touchdowns with one interception in 238 career offensive snaps across 14 games, while also rushing for 109 yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.

Last season, Vizzina appeared in five games, including one start, and altogether completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 406 yards and four touchdowns with one interception, while also rushing for 41 yards on 25 carries.

He made his first career start vs. SMU at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 18, as Klubnik missed the contest after suffering a sprained ankle in the Tigers’ game at Boston College one week earlier. In the 35-24 loss to SMU, Vizzina completed 29-of-42 passes for 317 yards with three touchdowns and a pass efficiency rating of 156.0. He did not throw an interception, though he fumbled twice and lost one of them.

“From a team standpoint, it’s about our quarterback. It’s always about the quarterback,” Swinney said. “We believe in Vizzina. I think he’s got a chance to be a really good player. He’s only started one game, and he did his part to win that game. He threw for 300-something yards and he gave us a chance in that game, and got better as the game went. Bright lights, and I like how he responded and I like how he’s competed. But he’s the most experienced guy we’ve got.”

As for Reynolds, he was the No. 3 prospect in the state of Arizona and the 11th-best dual-threat quarterback nationally in the 2026 recruiting class, according to ESPN.

A hamstring injury basically robbed Reynolds of his entire senior season at Queen Creek (Ariz.) High School, but before that, he completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 2,238 yards with 22 touchdowns and only five interceptions as a junior in 2024. He also rushed 137 times for 1,426 yards and 19 touchdowns that year en route to being named by the Arizona Cardinals as the state’s player of the year.

Reynolds signed with Clemson this past December and enrolled in January. He has emerged as the clear No. 2 behind Vizzina in the Tigers’ QB room, which also includes true freshman Brock Bradley, redshirt freshman Chris Denson and redshirt senior Trent Pearman.

After the spring game, Swinney readily admitted that Reynolds really has a shot at pushing for the starting job. Swinney also said that Denson, who entered the spring as the No. 2 quarterback, now has a decision to make about whether he still wants to be a quarterback or if he likes his chances playing another position.

“We got this kid, Tait Reynolds, who we kind of had a battle with four guys to see who’s going to come out to be the [No.] 2 so that he could go compete with CV. And he dominated that,” Swinney said to Pate regarding Reynolds.