CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Christopher Vizzina is Clemson 's "clear" starting quarterback entering fall camp, according to head coach Dabo Swinney, but the Tigers anticipate a competition before officially naming a starter for their Week 1 showdown against LSU .
Vizzina, a fourth-year junior, has just one career start under his belt, but he entered the offseason as the odds-on favorite to land the job after the departure of Cade Klubnik. Swinney said Thursday that Vizzina has done nothing to suggest he doesn't deserve to start -- but the surprising spring performance from true freshman Tait Reynolds has made the competition a lot more interesting.
"We all know the magnitude of these decisions. We're not stupid," Swinney said.
"But that's why we didn't go get the big shiny object out of the portal. We believe in [Vizzina].
But we also believe in Tait. He's a high-level dude, now.
He's special." Reynolds spent the final week of spring ball working with the No. 2 offense, and afterward, Swinney announced a depth chart that featured Vizzina as the starter and Reynolds as the top backup.
A four-star recruit out of Arizona, Reynolds looks the part of a veteran already, according to his teammates. "He's built like a linebacker," Clemson's All-ACC linebacker Sammy Brown said.
The physical and mental aptitude has Swinney convinced that, should Reynolds prove to be the better quarterback in fall camp, he'd have no qualms running a true freshman out as the starter in Baton Rouge's Death Valley. "Neither one of them have great experience, so at the end of the day, if CV's 1, he'll run out there first," Swinney said.
"If Tait's 1, he'll run out there first. We just have to go through the process and see how it all works out." Swinney said he has seen consistent progress from Vizzina, and the hype surrounding Reynolds isn't a reflection on a lack of confidence in the veteran.
"[Vizzina] is a really smart, good passer, he's an excellent leader, he moves well," Swinney said. "He really does everything well.
All he has done is get better. CV's done an awesome job, and he's not going to back up.
So if Tait runs out there first, he beat out a really good player." Clemson is coming off a disappointing 7-6 season -- Swinney's worst since 2010 -- and saw a host of departures to the NFL, including Klubnik. But if a middling season and a turnover in personnel is cause for concern among the pundits, Swinney said he has bought in that the Tigers will surprise in 2026 -- whichever quarterback gets the starting nod in Week 1.
"Most years that I've been a head coach, we've exceeded whatever we were preseason," Swinney said. "I don't pay much attention.
If all that stuff mattered, we'd have won a national championship last year."