QB pledge proud of Peter Woods being himself picking Clemson over home state Crimson Tide

Christopher Vizzina and Peter Woods are set to be 5-star teammates going from the state of Alabama to Clemson.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Jul 09 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

Christopher Vizzina didn’t care what state Peter Woods hailed from, he was determined to be there for his future teammate’s commitment ceremony. The good news for the two Alabama high school stars is that they don’t live that far apart and will one day share the same uniform.

Woods, a 2023 5-star defensive lineman out of Alabaster (AL) Thompson, committed to Clemson Friday evening during a ceremony at his high school. He is rated as the No. 3 defensive lineman in the country by the 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 1 defensive tackle by ESPN. Woods joins Vizzina – out of Birmingham (AL) Briarwood - as 247Sports Composite 5-star rated prospects in the class.

Vizzina, who committed to Clemson in April, showed up for the ceremony and said there was no way he was going to miss supporting Woods.

“If it was in Mississippi or anywhere, if it was in another state, I still would have gone,” Vizzina told TigerNet. “Just knowing that Peter, he's being himself. There's a whole lot of people, and I know this for sure, but a whole lot of people in Alabama that want to keep you in state and if you don't stay in state, they're going to cuss at you and they're going to give it all to you. He wanted to be his own person. He wanted to do what he wanted to do. He wanted to do what he felt like was best for him. So, I was proud of him for that. So that kind of just made me want to go support him and then just to be in there, be in that room with a bunch of people that want him to go to Alabama and then see him put on the Clemson hat was a really good feeling.”

Vizzina said the people of Alabama are passionate about college football.

“Football in the south is crazy, but football now, in general, is crazy, too. I'm not going to say I feel bad for Peter, but I think there's going to be some people that aren't happy with him,” Vizzina said. “But I know he'll stay his course and not let that get to him. I'm pretty sure he'll probably stay off his phone for the night. I bet his parents take it away from him. But I'm proud of him for the way he's handling it now.”

Woods was one of a number on hand for Clemson’s big official visit weekend in early June, which has yielded 11 of the Tigers' pledges since. At 17 members total now, Clemson's class is ranked third by the 247Sports Composite, trailing only Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Vizzina said this class has a chance to get even better.

“We can definitely get better. I would say we're not done,” Vizzina said. “People probably get used to me saying that now but we aren't done. It's going to keep growing. I don't know when the next one will pop, but it's already a special class. I've told you before, the official visit was just amazing. So a lot of people remember that it stands out to them and so I think for a couple of guys that might mean one more trip to Clemson and they’ll know. So I'm looking forward to that.”