CLEMSON – There is no connection quite like the one between a quarterback and a center.

Between each offensive play, whether it ultimately ends in a passing touchdown, a handoff to the running back, or an interception, the unlikely duo complete the same ritual.

Get set. Yell the cadence. Snap the ball.

And while this seconds-long routine may seem monotonous, or even unimportant, it requires a certain level of chemistry between the offensive line’s leader and the signal-caller. It dictates the direction the ball is snapped, the timing, and sets up communication for the entire play.

For Clemson quarterback Christopher Vizzina, that level of comfort with his offensive line, primarily the Tigers’ potential new starting center, has been handcrafted over the last three years.

“Just really excited to get out with this group of guys,” Vizzina said. “Like when I think about it, these are all the guys that I came in with and kind of grew close to. So when I look out there, especially on the offensive line and the receivers, like I mean these are the guys I’ve been hanging out with freshman year. So the chemistry and everything I’ve been really excited about.” 

Vizzina joined the Tigers’ team as a mid-year enrollee in January of 2023, learning behind former quarterback Cade Klubnik and under assistant coach Tajh Boyd for his first three years at Clemson. Now, ahead of the 2026 season, with Klubnik off to the New York Jets, the Birmingham, Ala., native has the “pole position” for the starting job headed into summer practices, according to head coach Dabo Swinney.

Similarly, center Harris Sewell, Vizzina’s roommate of over two years, is in line to take over the starting center role, after veteran Ryan Linthicum exhausted his eligibility and received a minicamp invite from the Buffalo Bills. 

“Harris has done a great job for us,” Swinney said after a March practice. “So, I was very encouraged by him. He looks like a very athletic center. You know, sometimes you get a guy that’s a good guard and he looks okay at guard and all of a sudden you look elite at center. And I mean, he’s a good guard, but he looks really good inside there.”

Sewell, a rising senior and former four-star recruit, made nine starts last season, notching 643 offensive snaps. In 2024, his sophomore year, the Odessa, Texas, native played in 12 games and made three starts. Sewell did most of his work at the guard position in his first three seasons at Clemson, but got occasional reps at center in his second year.

Now, with veterans on the line like Linthicum, as well as first-round draft pick Blake Miller, Tristan Leigh, and Walker Parks concluding their time in the Upstate, Sewell and other former rotational pieces will have a chance to step into larger roles.

And while Klubnik and Linthicum built a connection over Linthicum’s 27 starts at center– the quarterback even arrived at the ACC Kickoff last season sporting a shirt with his center’s name and face– Vizzina and Sewell may have an even more natural connection, that spawned miles away from the football facility.

Years before the pair started working on snap timing, cadences, and communication on the field, the roommates were spending time bonding in their living room cooking dinner, and trading off chores– truly a different level of connection.

“We’ve been roommates since sophomore year, so, I mean, we’re as close as can be,” Sewell said. We hang out all the time.

“(Vizzina’s) doing great,” he added. “I’m so excited for him. He’s waited a long time for this and I’ve seen his confidence grow tremendously and he’s doing a great job.”

While Clemson’s football season is still months away, and Swinney and offensive coordinator Chad Morris have not named any starters for the 2026 year, Sewell is confident that his friend and roommate has taken new steps to lead the Tigers in his redshirt junior year.

“His morale and his personality is coming out and he’s just being himself,” Sewell said. “That’s my roommate and I know who he is and he’s just being himself around everybody. So, it’s been great.”

Sewell and Vizzina, as well as the rest of Clemson’s unproven offensive line, have much to show and time to grow before Clemson opens its season against LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. And no, doing dishes together does not always translate to success on the field. 

But while there are many questions about the Tigers’ football team, it is hard to imagine that one will be the quarterback-center chemistry with Vizzina and Sewell.