Elite Clemson QB target won a lot of games before he could even drive

Vizzina will make his decision later today.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Apr 12 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2022

Christopher Vizzina won 20 games as a high school starting quarterback before he was legally allowed to drive. In other words, he’s used to being a winner.

Vizzina (6-4, 207) is a 4-star 2023 quarterback out of Birmingham (AL) Briarwood Christian who is expected to announce his college decision today at 4:15 (EDT) at his high school. Vizzina helped Briarwood High School to a 10-2 season, throwing for 2,065 yards, 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. He added 600 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.

Vizzina made the Elite 11 QB competition finals and is one of the top quarterbacks in the country. Vizzina recently visited Clemson, Ole Miss, Auburn and Ohio State. However, he visited Clemson on Monday of last week and then returned for a visit for the spring game Saturday, leading many to believe that Vizzina is going to be a Tiger.

He is the seventh-best quarterback and No. 52 overall prospect in the 2023 class rankings per the 247Sports Composite. His high school coach said that Vizzina has a combination of attributes that make him special.

“His decision-making skills and abilities are top-notch. It's not just on the football field, it's in every area of his life,” Briarwood's Matthew Forrester told TigerNet. “It really carries over where he doesn't even think about what he's supposed to do, he just does it, because he is so used to doing the right thing. He knows the reads, he knows the progressions, and then bam. Now, I know there are a lot of kids that are like that, but when you're 6-4, 209 pounds and can sling it, it makes it quite different.”

Vizzina has also been a winner since he was a freshman.

“He is young for his age. He is still just 16 years old. When he was 14 years old he started for us as a freshman and won 11 games and then the next year he started as a sophomore and won nine games for us,” Forrester said. “And so he won 20 high school football games before he could ever drive. Since he's so young for his age, I noticed him when he was in 8th grade and he was just throwing. And I said, 'That's a natural motion.' And I watched him all summer, and the touch he had on the ball was great. He didn't try to throw the ball 100 miles per hour because in certain situations he doesn't have to. He has great touch and feel and knows when to put air and mustard on it. And then this last summer was the first time he had been out with other quarterbacks because with COVID he had always been locked down.

“So he goes out to Alabama and Clemson and Georgia and he's just running the circuit. And all of sudden the light comes on and he's like, 'Oh, you can throw it that hard? I can throw it that hard, too.' He had just turned 16 at the beginning of the summer and he's been in the weight room and the arm just keeps getting stronger and stronger. I knew when he was young, he had great touch, and when he was 14 throwing to 19-year-olds, he had a good arm, but as he's matured and grown, it's just gotten stronger but he's also kept that touch. But this past summer there was that jump when that competitive nature welled up inside of him.”

Forrester said that Vizzina is just a “normal kid.”

“He's great. He just wants to be a normal kid. Which has been easy until this past year. Even growing up, he had played receiver and only played four games in junior high as a starting quarterback,” Forrester said. “He is still growing and developing but he's got that blue collar, down-to-earth mentality. He is just a normal kid, and his guys still make fun of him and give him a hard time and he jokes with them, so he has a really healthy relationship with all of his teammates.”

What has kept Clemson among Vizzina’s finalists? That Disney atmosphere.

“What Coach Swinney and his entire staff has done has been remarkable. The consistency they have had in winning is big - if you get to choose where you want to go, you want to pick a program that has the ability to win a National Championship,” Forrester said. “So the fact that Clemson has that every year, the ability to be in the National Championship conversation is big. But more than that, it's just the culture that they have created. You go there, and in some ways, it feels like Disney World, because everybody is happy. Everybody has a smile on their face and is encouraging and they say hello to you. That atmosphere is really neat and special and I think they do a great job of developing the whole person.”