Scrimmage Insider: Vizzina stepping up, Wesco standing out, young DL striding forward

Vizzina made plays with this arm and his legs Wednesday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Mar 13 19:37:13 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Christopher Vizzina is stepping up, Bryant Wesco is standing out, and several younger defenders are striding forward.

The Tigers scrimmaged for over two hours in Death Valley on Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers will now have a 10-day hiatus for spring break, but Pro Day is Thursday morning inside the Poe Indoor Facility.

Swinney said the scrimmage was competitive, which is what he likes to see.

“We're progressing, getting done what we need to get done with guys in and out, a couple guys banged up, getting them back, a couple of guys banged up going out. So that's just kind of typical this time of year,” Swinney said. “But today was a really competitive day and from my perspective, that's kind of how I like it. We had a little half scrimmage on Saturday, and it was not quite as competitive, but today, there were wins on both sides.

“We got a lot of special teams' work. Today, we did a lot of special teams as well, had two-minute drives, and had a little goal line work, some short-yardage work, and then all the field zones. But a good day. Still got a lot of work to do, but I like what I'm seeing from guys that I need to see certain things out of. I think we're heading in the right direction. And then we've got some other guys that just got to keep maturing, got to keep growing, and have to earn our trust a little bit more.”

On the offensive line

“I would say the biggest thing that has stood out to me is I think that we've targeted very well. We're not making a lot of mistakes when it comes to just turning people loose and things like that. I mean, the guys seem to have a real good feel for what to do now, their technique and how to do it and all that. Still got a little work to do with some guys, but I think the first two groups in particular, man, they've really had great energy, great spirit to 'em and are responding well to Matt (Luke). It's been fun to watch. So good group, seeing a lot of the young guys take advantage of opportunity to play. This is everybody's opportunity to play, and you earn trust in practice. And so we've got some guys that are progressing and stepping up but still got a long way to go. It was our first full day, but we'll get one more scrimmage, and then we'll play the game, the spring game. But I'm very pleased with where we are.”

On if anyone is standing out

“I don't think there's, anybody need to call out right now, but I mean the main guys, I'm seeing our quarterbacks be the main guys I would say. I think all three of those guys are, after ten practices, going into it, I'm like, okay, let's go see. Cade (Klubnik) is, you can tell, just better. That's the way I can describe it. He just looks like a guy that's got some scars on him, played a little ball, slowed down a little bit and then CV (Christopher Vizzina) been awesome. It's been great. Again, he got hardly any reps in the fall, so it was mostly mental, and he's just really taking full advantage of it. And now that we've got Trent (Pearman) back, you really forget about him. He wasn't out here the first several practices, but now that he's back, I mean he's a gamer.

“Kid's a gamer, he's a baller. He really understands the game and just has a good feel. So I think all three of those guys, I think we're seeing what we need to see out of all three of them at this point. Now, are they ready to go be All-Americans? Nope, but I think they've all gotten better, and that's what we need to see at this point. And hopefully we've got to keep progressing some of those young tight ends. Same thing with the linemen. Some of those veteran guys looking for leadership. I'm proud of that. (Phil) Mafah has been awesome.”

*Swinney said that freshman receiver Bryant Wesco fumbled near the goal line during the scrimmage, and because the head coach hasn’t had much of a chance to chew out the Texas native. Swinney said he lit into Wesco in a way that would make other players go into a shell, but Wesco responded with two big plays later in the scrimmage.

“I hadn't really had much opportunity to really yell at him, so I took full advantage of it today and he just kind of looked at me, comes right back, makes a couple great plays. I mean, he's poised, mature, and has a maturity rare for a young kid. He's very talented, but you see a lot of kids that are talented, but they don't have the mindset or maturity to go with it. He does. And so that's encouraging because all the rest of the stuff he'll get better at. He'll get bigger, he'll get stronger, he'll work at it, he'll learn some other positions, all that stuff will come. He'll learn the bigger picture things. But he's just a poised kid. He's poised, he's tough, he likes to play, likes to be coached, and he's got the maturity and mentality to match the talent.”

*Class of 2027 quarterback RJ Day was on campus with his father, Ohio St. head football coach Ryan Day, on Wednesday. RJ Day has offers from Boston College and Marshall. The Days took a campus tour.

*Jahiem Lawson had two sacks and AJ Hoffler had one.

*Tavoy Feagin was a first-team cornerback today (Avieon Terrell was out with injury).

*More on Vizzina:

“He hasn't flinched, and he's gotten better each and every day, and that's what we needed to see. So that's why we recruited him. We thought he was one of the best players in the country coming out of high school and he looks that way on the practice field just with his skills and how he moves and throws the football. So his confidence is really, really growing, and that's been great. We need that. We all know that you are one rolled ankle away, and you better have somebody else that can go in there and win. And he's earning our trust through 10 practices.

“Again, ways to go, but we're thinking about between now and August, he is going to get another whole summer, another fall camp. If he stays on track, then he's going to be able to help us. Like what we’ve seen out of him using his legs. Made two huge plays today with his legs and he can run. He's a big, strong kid. That's a real dimension in his game that a lot of people don't really know, but he can move. He's in really good shape and so again, made two big plays today, just post snap stuff with his legs. It was good to see.”