During his weekly Sunday teleconference, after viewing the film from Saturday’s 41-10 win at Boston College, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney gave his evaluation of backup quarterback Christopher Vizzina’s performance against the Eagles.

What did Swinney think of Vizzina on the drives that he played after coming in for injured starting quarterback Cade Klubnik?

“We didn’t ask him to do a whole lot, kind of where the game was,” Swinney said.

The Tigers led 34-10 late in the third quarter when Klubnik got rolled up on and sprained his ankle on a second-and-goal play from the Boston College 9-yard line. He got up limping and was taken out of the game and replaced by Vizzina, who threw a fourth-down interception in the end zone to end the Clemson drive.

Swinney says the Tigers should have called a timeout before the play where Vizzina threw the pick. He said they talked about just taking the points on fourth-and-goal, but “wanted to be aggressive” in that situation.

“The pick, we really should have called timeout on that,” Swinney said. “We put him in a bad spot. He really didn’t get fully around the edge. He might’ve had a chance to get it over that guy if he puts it in the back.”

“I liked the call, I just felt like we should have called timeout right there and reset,” Swinney reiterated. “I still would’ve gone for it.”

Overall, Vizzina played in three possessions and went 1-of-3 passing for -2 yards with the interception. He also rushed four times for 19 yards.

The redshirt sophomore finished the game by leading the Tigers on a fourth quarter touchdown drive.

“He did his job,” Swinney said of Vizzina. “Had some good things in the run game. Like I said, didn’t ask him to do a whole lot, with that point in time with the score and all that stuff. But good drive to come away with a touchdown there at the end.”

Vizzina has played in three games this season, completing 7-of-14 passes for 37 yards with the one interception. He has also rushed for 21 yards on seven carries across the three contests in which he’s appeared.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder entered this season having completed 19-of-34 passes for 190 yards and having rushed 13 times for 68 yards and a touchdown over 94 career snaps in nine games from 2023-24.

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.

Vizzina passed for 7,220 yards and had 59 touchdown passes in his prep career in Alabama. He also scored 29 rushing touchdowns, giving him 88 combined touchdowns rushing and passing for his career.

–Photo courtesy of Eric Canha-Imagn Images