Christopher Vizzina’s most recent visit to Clemson is probably one of his favorite visits he’s ever taken.
Clemson’s five-star quarterback commit out of Birmingham (Ala.) Briarwood Christain School, who was in attendance for the Tigers’ 48-20 win over Louisiana Tech last Saturday at Memorial Stadium, admitted as such in a phone interview with The Clemson Insider Wednesday afternoon.
“The atmosphere there was just unreal,” Vizzina said. “It’s not like it’s a conference game or anything, but you wouldn’t know. It was packed out. I remember running to the hill from the visitors’ tunnel after the national anthem and hearing all the Clemson fans saying, ‘Let’s go Vizzina’ and people just encouraging me even though I’m not playing in the game or anything like that. Even the student section showed me a lot of love and everything. It was unreal.
“To stand up there and get to be up there when they touch the rock and get to be under that huge jumbotron and see the hype video and see the lights flashing, it was huge. It was just an amazing feeling.”
That feeling carried over from some of the pregame festivities, in which Clemson continued to make its prized quarterback commit feel like a priority.
“I walked in there and just knew my way around the facility,” Vizzina began in explaining his latest visit to Clemson. “They just let me get a second look at everything — really like the seventh look, but just to be able to see everything again and just really hang out with the coaches, they personally know me now.”
Of course, Vizzina is referring to before Clemson’s third victory of the season, in which he had a chance to catch up with some of his future coaches and discuss some of the games he’s played in during his senior season.
“It was great,” he said. “I think one of the most special things for me was getting to talk to Coach Swinney for like 15-20 minutes before the game. I was kind of thinking like, ‘What other head coach would be doing this?’ Taking the time to talk to me before a good game.”
“For him to take the time to do that meant the world,” Vizzina added. “I knew that’s the person he is. Every time I talk to him, I know that what I think about him is correct.”
In his sitdown with Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, Vizzina said they discussed a multitude of things, including the Tigers’ 2023 recruiting class, how his senior campaign is going and just life in general.
Vizizna also had the chance to talk with Swinney, right after he handed out his latest running back offer to Douglasville (Ga.) South Paulding three-star Jamarion Wilcox, who was on campus for an unofficial visit.
“Right now it is,” Vizzina said when asked about Wilcox being Clemson’s main target at running back. “We’re his biggest offer for sure. I think he loves it. He’s got an amazing story. I think the Clemson staff has really shown him that we want him here and everything like that. Even the commits, we wanted to go up to him and let him know, ‘You’re our guy. We want you to be a part of this class.’”
Wilcox isn’t the only uncommitted prospect in the class of 2023 that Vizzina’s recruiting him. He’s in on Tomarrion Parker and is putting forth his best effort to convince the four-star defensive end out of Phenix City (Ala.) Central High School, that Clemson is the best fit for him.
“Me and him are pretty tight,” Vizzina said of Parker. “I’d say he might be a little annoyed with me, but at the same time, I think he can tell that this is a school that really wants him. I think we’re in a good spot with him. I don’t think he’s made his decision yet, but obviously, I want him to be a part of this class and that would be a huge get for us.
“I feel like I’m doing my job (as a recruiter), but that’s what comes with it — you feel like you’re annoying people. I’m sure that’s what coaches feel like sometimes, but that’s their job. Like I said before I committed, I want to be the leader of this class. I wanted to help build this class. That’s my job and that’s what I’m doing.”
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