Christopher Vizzina is set to live out a childhood dream come Tuesday.
Long before the five-star quarterback out of Briarwood Christian (Alabama) and Clemson commit reached the Elite 11 finals with his performance at Carrollton High School, he was in middle school watching YouTube videos about his upcoming experience from June 28-30.
“I’m really excited,” Vizzina told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview Friday. “I’ve been training the past couple of weeks for it. I’m ready to compete with everybody. I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun just being around a bunch of guys that have gone through and are going through the same thing I’ve been going through, and so I think that’ll be really cool…this is kind of the last camp for me. It’s almost kind of the championship for your personal quarterback recruiting or training — that’s kind of how I feel about it.”
As far as preparation for the Elite 11 finals goes, there are a lot of under-center drills that take place. Vizzina said that there’s nothing too special about his routine besides staying ready. The QBs hopped on a Zoom call with Trent Dilfer this past Friday night and he taught them the plays. While he wants to see how the plays are going to be, Vizzina doesn’t sense that they’ll be too complicated. He also touched on the mental aspect of things as well.
Vizzina has had a chance to speak with other quarterbacks from the Yellowhammer State — Paul Tyson (Arizona State) and Robby Ashford (Auburn) — who have previously participated in the Elite 11 finals and have let him in on what he should expect out in Los Angeles.
He also has spoken about it in the past with Clemson freshman QB Cade Klubnik, who took home Elite 11 finals MVP honors in 2021.
What would it mean to Vizzina to become the second Clemson commit in as many years to be named the Elite 11 MVP?
“It would mean a lot,” he said. “Obviously, I’m going in there to win, but I’m also trying to take in the whole experience as well, trying to get better. There’s a lot of stuff that we’re gonna do that’s not necessarily on the field. They told me that just because you had a better weekend spinning it than everyone else, it doesn’t mean you’re gonna necessarily win. It’s kind of everything together, like how you carry yourself, how you act in the meetings, if you know your stuff, and then, of course, how you do on the field.”
Vizzina reiterated that at the end of the day he wants to win, but he’s also looking forward to making relationships with guys he’s heard about but hasn’t had the chance to meet in person before.
Those sentiments were echoed by his future head coach, Dabo Swinney, earlier this month.
“Coach Swinney talked to me about it on the official visit,” Vizzina said. “He just told me that he knows that I’m gonna kill it, that he’s got a lot of confidence in me and just take in the whole experience and just walk away with new relationships and learn new things.”
While Vizzina won’t be recruiting any QBs while he’s out in California, that doesn’t mean he’ll stop plugging away at trying to get some big-name players like Hunter Osborne, Peter Woods and Ronan Hanafin to join Clemson’s 2023 recruiting class.
“It’s been exciting,” Vizzina said of Clemson’s latest recruiting surge. “I’ve been super active on Twitter, but when we get a new commitment — we’ve had so many — I’ve had trouble figuring out what to tweet out now because I’ve said the same thing so many times, but that’s a good thing.”
“We’re gonna keep growing, ” he continued. “I know it’s gonna get exciting and everything and I’m really looking forward to it. I know a lot of Clemson fans are super excited about it as well. It’s not gonna slow down at all…I’m still working on a bunch of people, so we’re definitely going to keep growing. It has been pretty crazy, though. I didn’t think it was gonna happen this fast, but I knew it was gonna be a special class.”
