Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Tuesday that the Tigers expected to have more experience at quarterback this season, with freshman Tait Reynolds starting every game since senior Christopher Vizzina injured his left elbow in Week 2.
Swinney made the comments while discussing the offense at his weekly press conference on Oct. 27, three days after a 20-16 home loss to Virginia Tech dropped Clemson to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC.
“I didn’t anticipate it,” Swinney said. “I thought we’d be better. We all thought we’d be better. We’ve had some challenges that we didn’t anticipate. We thought we’d have a little bit more of a veteran presence at quarterback. You don’t plan for that. We didn’t plan for CV to get hurt the third series of the second game and really not be available.”
Swinney said the situation was not an excuse, adding that Vizzina’s absence created an opportunity for Reynolds and accelerated the freshman’s growth.
Coming out of preseason camp, Vizzina was named the starter, and he was under center for the season opener at LSU, which Clemson lost 51-10. On Sept. 12 against Georgia Southern, Vizzina got the start again and hit a touchdown pass on the Tigers’ second possession, but he was pulled after throwing an interception on the next series and never went back in.
Reynolds took it from there, going 16-of-27 passing for 178 yards and leading five scoring drives as Clemson won 22-7.
Larry Williams of Tigerillustrated asked Swinney on Tuesday whether a healthy Vizzina would have kept the competition going, pointing to Swinney’s comments after the Georgia Southern game that Reynolds clearly won the job based on his body of work.
“I think there definitely would have been a battle because, again, CV was going back in the game,” Swinney said. “I’ve said this about 10 times. We were going three and three in that game, and we went to put CV back in, and he couldn’t play. He couldn’t feel his arm.”
Going into the Georgia Southern game, Clemson’s plan had Vizzina and Reynolds splitting the series, three apiece. Once Vizzina couldn’t go back in, Reynolds got the extended run, and Swinney said the staff wanted to get behind its guy after Reynolds did a lot of good things that night.
A week later, on Sept. 19, Reynolds got the start against North Carolina and led Clemson to a 28-20 win, making him the earliest freshman in a season to start at quarterback for the Tigers in more than 50 years.
“This kid’s going to be a stud, man,” Swinney said. “He’s going to be a stud. He’s got the right stuff. But my point is, we thought we would have both of those guys, and it would be a little different process as we’ve gone. It maybe would have happened in a different way. Either CV really solidifies himself, or Tait keeps coming, or vice versa. But we were kind of forced into the situation we were in.”
Vizzina has not appeared in a game since leaving the Georgia Southern matchup, and Swinney said earlier this month that the senior had struggled to fully bend his left arm and generate enough torque to throw. Vizzina did not play in Clemson’s 37-0 win over Charleston Southern on Oct. 17, although Swinney said afterward that he was available.
On Tuesday, Swinney also got a question about whether Vizzina, once he’s all the way healthy, could push Reynolds for the job.
“Yeah, he’s back now,” Swinney said. “We’ll see. It’s the same thing. Everybody’s got a job to do. But Tait’s the starter. He’s earned that opportunity. He’s done a lot of good things, but he’s got to go play well. It’s good to get CV back. I’d say he’s still not 100%, but he’s the closest he’s been.”
In the loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday, Reynolds went 20-of-26 passing for 153 yards and ran for a career-high 63 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown. Clemson visits Florida State on Saturday.
