The college football season is already underway with Week 0 in the books, but for the teams that haven't played yet, there are still some final positional battles to iron out. In Week 1, all eyes will be on the game in Baton Rouge for Lane Kiffin's first game coaching LSU, with College GameDay coming to town. While all the spotlight is on Lane Kiffin and LSU, the other Tigers may be just as interesting of a story.
Dabo Swinney entered last season with a team expected to compete for a National Championship, and they instead fell apart, finishing 7-6. The roster lost a ton to the NFL, including quarterback Cade Klubnik, opening a quarterback battle for the Tigers.
While most expected the job to be given to Christopher Vizzina, who gained valuable experience last year, freshman Tait Reynolds has made it a battle. With the season opener on the horizon, it looks like Dabo Swinney is nearing a decision, at least for Week 1.
Starting Christopher Vizzina is the right choice for Clemson in Week 1
On Sunday, all the reporting appears to indicate that Clemson will most likely start Christopher Vizzina for the LSU game.
The current expectation continues to be that Clemson will end up starting Christopher Vizzina at QB vs. LSU this week, sources tell @CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) August 30, 2026
Former Class of 2023 top-80 overall recruit. Threw for 317 yards and three TDs vs. SMU in his one start last year. https://t.co/z61T8PEBSY pic.twitter.com/z4DZ2nlMUC
While Tait Reynolds has given Clemson plenty to think about, the decision is going to be more about the game than the full season. Tait Reynolds is only a true freshman, and if this game were at home, he might be the starter, but you can't go on the road to Death Valley with all the buzz around the debut of Kiffin, and start a true freshman.
Christopher Vizzina already has starting experience from his game against SMU, and he appeared in 5 games last season. Vizzina finished the season 45 of 71 passing (63.4%) for 406 yards and 4 touchdowns with just 1 interception.
Dabo Swinney's made this same decision in the past, and it hasn't kept him from eventually pivoting later down the line. Clemson started Kelly Bryant for 4 games in 2018, having him start on the road in tough games against Texas A&M and Georgia Tech before pivoting to true freshman Trevor Lawrence when the schedule got easier.
Tait Reynolds may be that next special Clemson quarterback, but he doesn't need to start right away, and it may not be best for his development. Vizzina can handle the LSU game before both get experience the following week against Georgia Southern, allowing Swinney to see both in a game before getting into ACC play.
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