ALABASTER, Ala. — Christopher Vizzina had a purple Clemson shirt neatly tucked in under a sweatshirt.
Vizzina was in attendance at Thompson High School Friday when five-star defensive lineman Peter Woods announced his verbal pledge to the Tigers during a commitment ceremony at his high school’s football facility.
After over a month and give or take 45 minutes, Clemon’s five-star quarterback commit was ready to let loose.
Between traveling to the Elite 11 finals in California and a family vacation in Michigan, Vizzina has been in three different time zones in the past week. However, the exhaustion from traveling the country wasn’t going to stop him from being there for his future teammate.
“Obviously he’s the big one now,” Vizzina told The Clemson Insider following Woods’ announcement Friday. “I’m super excited. Everyone at Clemson is super excited. A big get out of Alabama. Now we got two Bama boys, trying to get a third with Hunter (Osborne) — me and Peter are gonna go after him.
“To get a player of that caliber and take him out of Alabama, it says a lot about Clemson and it says a lot about Coach Swinney and the staff. If you look at that from afar, it’s gotta say something about Clemson. Taking two five-stars from the state of Alabama, that doesn’t happen a lot. That’s exciting.”
With Woods’ commitment to the Tigers on Friday, Clemson now has added two five-star prospects out of the Yellowhammer State to its 2023 recruiting class.
The Briarwood Christian (Birmingham, Ala.) product couldn’t be more thrilled to have a player like Woods in the fold.
“I’m beyond excited to play with Peter,” Vizzina said. “I know that he represents everything that Clemson is about. It’s just a perfect fit.”
“CV was here for me today,” Woods said. “That’s like one of my brothers throughout this recruiting process. I’m just proud of him for making the decision that he made and I’m excited to be on the same team as him. I absolutely hate quarterbacks, but he’s the exception.”
Vizzina has known about Woods’ decision for a little over a month now.
When he was on his official visit to Clemson last month, he heard some chatter that Woods had silently committed. He quickly wrapped up his photoshoot, grabbed a lunch to go and ran up the stairs.
“It was right as Peter was telling Coach Swinney,” Vizzina recalled. “I didn’t hear him say it, but I knew that it happened and it was such a special moment, especially with Coach (Nick) Eason. Coach Eason’s new, but he just got a huge guy. Coach Swinney was excited, Peter’s family was so proud of him, but I was just so proud that we got him.”
Vizzina was ecstatic.
He didn’t know that Woods was gonna do that. He knew Clemson had a serious chance at landing him, but he didn’t think it was gonna happen on that day. For it to happen on June 5, Vizzina was kind of shocked. He was super excited then and he’s super excited now.
Dear Old Clemson’s first event is July 24. Now there is a new way to support Clemson student-athletes. Come out and meet the freshmen football players at this meet and greet autograph session. If you sign up for certain club levels you get free access to all Dear Old Clemson events. Purchase your tickets today at Dear Old Clemson.
