Christopher Vizzina remains in the pole position when it comes to Clemson’s QB1 race, and he sits atop the depth chart at that position heading into fall camp, just ahead of true freshman Tait Reynolds.

However, Vizzina is not one of the three players that Clemson is sending to the 2026 ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, N.C. Instead, junior linebacker Sammy Brown, senior defensive end Will Heldt and senior tight end Olsen Patt-Henry will accompany Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney to the event, which runs from Wednesday to Friday at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown.

Some people were somewhat surprised when Clemson’s ACC Kickoff attendees were announced in late June, and Vizzina wasn’t among the representatives. It marks the first time since 2019 Clemson will not bring a quarterback to the ACC event.

During Clemson’s media outing Tuesday, Swinney explained why Vizzina isn’t going to the ACC Kickoff. One reason is simply that Vizzina isn’t a senior, and another reason is that Swinney selected Brown as the third player from a pool of player requests that the ACC sent Clemson — thus Browns is joining the one offensive senior who was chosen in Patt-Henry and the one defensive senior who was chosen in Heldt. 

“Well, [Vizzina is] not a senior, so Olsen was the offensive senior that we chose. So, [Vizzina] wasn’t on the pool,” Swinney said. “You kind of look at, who are your seniors, and you talk to your coaches, and it was Olsen. And then it was Heldt on defense. And then, OK, who do they [the ACC] want? Ross [Ross Taylor, Clemson’s Associate Athletic Director for Football Communications & Strategic Initiatives] … He tells me who they [the ACC] want. There’s three or four guys they list, and I’m like, alright, we’ll take Sammy. So, it’s really not complicated. It’s not anything more than that.”

Swinney also noted that teams are only taking three players to the ACC Kickoff this year, instead of four.

Last year, the Tigers sent quarterback Cade Klubnik, receiver Antonio Williams, defensive tackle Peter Woods and defensive end T.J. Parker.

“For me, I think you’ve got to have context,” Swinney said of the process of choosing Clemson’s ACC Kickoff attendees. “I’ve always taken our seniors, number one. That’s kind of where I start. … So, Olsen is our senior that we chose, and been a starter for us. And then Heldt was a senior, and they all wanted Sammy Brown. So, that’s kind of how it goes. There was a couple other names they threw out there. But I don’t really worry about all that stuff. Last year we got to take four, too. This year, they cut it to three.”

Clemson will speak to the media who cover the league on Thursday, the second day of the Football Kickoff event.