As Clemson opened fall camp Thursday afternoon, senior Christopher Vizzina remained the leader in the Tigers’ quarterback competition.

Vizzina, a former highly touted recruit who backed up Cade Klubnik for multiple years, continues to be in what head coach Dabo Swinney calls the “pole position” when it comes to the Tigers’ quarterback race.

“Again, he’s got the pole position, but he’s still gotta finish the race,” Swinney said Thursday before the start of camp.

“He’s gotta go finish the race, but he’s got a lead into the second half here, so we’ll see what happens.”

For the past few years, Cade Klubnik was one of the main leaders and faces of the Clemson football program as the Tigers’ three-year starting quarterback. Now, Vizzina is battling with true freshman Tait Reynolds for the starting job vacated by Klubnik when he moved onto the NFL after being selected by the New York Jets in the fourth round of April’s draft.

Although Vizzina has started just one game and seen sporadic playing time over his previous three years at Clemson, Swinney says Vizzina has “absolutely” earned the respect of the locker room and has established himself as a leader.

“The guys respect CV,” Swinney said. “They respect him, because he’s done the work.”

“He’s respected. But he also has a lot to prove, right,” Swinney added. “He’s gotta go do it. I can’t give it to him. Nobody can. You’ve got to earn it. Players know. They know – game knows game.”

Swinney believes in Vizzina and the other quarterbacks on Clemson’s roster, and that’s why he opted not to pursue a transfer portal QB this offseason and go get what he has called a “shiny object” at QB out of the portal.

Vizzina has stayed true and loyal to Clemson and Swinney. So, Swinney did the same and did not go after a QB in the portal.

Swinney says if Vizzina “had gone in the portal, he would have been the greatest thing ever in the portal.” But because Vizzina did not, Swinney thinks he “gets downplayed” by the media and people outside the program.

“Whoever got him [if Vizzina had entered the portal], they’d be writing all these great articles about this great quarterback that we got from Clemson,” Swinney said. “But because he stayed, he gets downplayed. That’s just the nature of this world we’re living in right now. It just is.”

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, 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.

In his lone career start thus far, Vizzina threw for 317 yards and three touchdowns in a 35–24 loss to SMU last season, with Klubnik sidelined due to injury.

Reynolds – a former four-star prospect according to ESPN, who enrolled at Clemson in January — really pushed Vizzina in the spring and continued to do so through summer workouts, and Reynolds will get his shot during fall camp to push for the starting job.

But entering fall camp, Vizzina had done everything the Tigers had asked of him so far in his quest to become Clemson’s new QB1 this upcoming season.  

“He’s just taken ownership of everything,” Swinney said. “He’s gone above and beyond. He’s in great shape. He’s incredibly knowledgeable. He’s done everything he needs to do to position himself to win the job.”