Socastee’s Renfrow making impact on Clemson football team
Hunter Renfrow admits he doesn’t look like a football player.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said this year that the redshirt freshman receiver could easily be mistaken for one of the team’s trainers.
At 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, nobody on campus knows the Myrtle Beach native’s a Tiger unless he’s wearing a team shirt.
“I look like a regular student,” Renfrow said. “A lot of my friends joke around all the time and try to make it a bigger deal than it is. It’s normal.”
Renfrow got plenty of attention, though, from Swinney during fall camp. The head coach talked Renfrow up, handed out a coveted scholarship to the former walk-on and vowed he’d impact the team this season.
He proved Swinney right. In a talented receiving corps that runs seven deep, Renfrow lined up in the slot in the second quarter of a scoreless, meaningful game at Louisville. As soon as the ball was snapped, Renfrow made one juke move that forced his defender to the outside. He darted inside and into an open field, catching a 32-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson that gave No. 11 Clemson (3-0, 1-0 ACC) a critical 7-0 lead in the 20-17 victory over the Cardinals.
“I was just waiting for my opportunity to come and help the team any way I could and if that was a touchdown then so be it,” Renfrow said. “The middle of the field broke wide open and Deshaun read it like he’s supposed to and it worked out.
“It was a lot of fun. (Teammates) were trying to get me pumped up on the sideline after the touchdown. It would not have felt nearly as good if we didn’t win. That’s the biggest thing. Just winning the game was huge.”
The former Socastee High School standout ranks fifth on the team with 404 yards on 26 catches, and has 3 TDs. He’s produced more than much higher-ranked prospects like Germone Hopper and Trevion Thompson. Renfrow has always felt he could play with anybody at this level.
“That’s one of the reasons why I came here,” he said. “I wanted to be able to play with the best and Clemson’s one of the best. I just try to stay committed and do my best every day.”
A talented high school baseball player as well, Renfrow had some scholarship offers for football. Appalachian State, which came to Death Valley in Week 2, went after him harder than anybody. Renfrow’s dad went to Wofford College with Mountaineer defensive coordinator Nate Woody. Renfrow was also close with former assistant Justin Stepp, a former Clemson grad assistant who now works with Chad Morris at SMU. So it was a “good connection,” but Renfrow took a much harder road to college football by walking on at Clemson and working his way up. It didn’t take long for coaches to notice him; Swinney said he caught everything thrown his way in camp.
“He was just 155 pounds playing quarterback (in high school) and just had the (receiver) skill set,” Swinney said. “Could fly, great ball skill set, smart, high football IQ, coach’s son. He’s got good height and a good frame, just too small.”
Renfrow said he talked with first-year Clemson baseball coach Monte Lee during the summer about getting on the diamond for the Tigers, but Renfrow is waiting to see how his first season on the football field goes before committing to another sport.
He’s concentrating on getting better every day in practice, and his offseason will be pretty busy as well; Swinney, a walk-on receiver himself at Alabama, says Renfrow is “not even close to what he’s going to be” physically.
“He’s got all the other stuff. He can fly,” Swinney said. “He’s a great change of direction guy. He’s just an instinctive, savvy guy. He’s a confident kid. That’s why he’s playing. That’s what we’ve seen in practice. He’s done a great job and I think he’s got a great future for us as he matures.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Socastee’s Renfrow making impact on Clemson football team."