Greg McElroy Puts Clemson Tigers At Crossroads Regarding Quarterback Situation

In an upcoming season where the Clemson Tigers have a new starting quarterback for the first time in three seasons, some have bigger questions involving the program.

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy spoke about Clemson’s quarterback room on his podcast, “Always College Football”, speaking about why 2026 could be a reset year for the top quarterbacks in the sport. In the Tigers’ case, it would be a reset of playstyle, moving away from Cade Klubnik.

Much like the rest of the majority’s opinion, McElroy expects longtime backup Christopher Vizzina to be the starter going forward this season. However, the bigger question he has is one similar to the one that head coach Dabo Swinney received before the 2026 offseason.

Would a transfer have been the better choice? This is the year to prove otherwise.

“The 2026 quarterback story for Clemson is one of the most philosophical, for lack of a better word, philosophical case studies in the sport,” McElroy said, “because Clemson’s not just picking a starter, they’ve defended an approach for a while, and the projection is Christopher Vizzina as Clemson’s starter.”

Swinney has been adamant on his new potential starting quarterback, addressing back in January that there were only two quarterbacks that he offered during Vizzina’s cycle, the other was Texas signal-caller Arch Manning. However, you look at the ways that programs have become better, like the previous two national champions in Ohio State and Indiana, a transfer quarterback has won them the trophy.

That script will look to be flipped in a make-or-break 2026 year.

“Here’s the question,” McElroy said. “In a sport where most of the top programs are out shopping for quarterbacks, like it’s the world’s most aggressive draft strategy ever, can Clemson still win at the highest level with a homegrown quarterback pipeline?”

Some of Clemson’s best opponents next year, like LSU and Miami, used the portal to nab a top transfer quarterback, like Sam Leavitt and Darian Mensah, respectively. Football is a team sport, though, and McElroy gives the Tigers’ defense a lot of credit for helping them win football games.

So, in this case, Vizzina won’t have to do it all to have the Tigers win games, but he has to be serviceable.

“Clemson’s defense is often going to be one of the better groups in the ACC,” McElroy said. “They are often good enough to win games, but if the offense is functional and high-level, then those might be the moments that decide the outcome.”

But what if he struggles, and the Tigers can’t get an offense going under Chad Morris in his first season? McElroy brings up that idea and believes it would change Swinney’s perspective on how to truly win in the modern era truly.

Clemson’s next quarterback needs to do the critical things right, and that raises the floor into one that will compete for an ACC Championship in December.

“So, Vizzina doesn’t have to be a Heisman finalist for Clemson to be good,” he said, “but he does need to be consistent on third down, efficient in the red zone, avoid mistakes against top-quality competition because. . .defense travels and quarterback elevates.”

All the Tigers need to do is worry about the in-conference play, and if they succeed with Vizzina at the helm during this period, that’s all they’ll need to do to compete for the College Football Playoff.

“That’s how they’ve won championships in the past,” McElroy said, “and that’s going to be the measuring stick with how Clemson proceeds into the future as well.”