CLEMSON, S.C. — In the run-up to the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, a reporter quizzed Ohio State safety Malik Hooker on the challenges of Clemson’s passing game. Aside from Mike Williams, the soon-to-be first-round selection in the NFL draft, who’s really dangerous on the Tigers’ receiving corps?
Hooker didn’t miss a beat.
“That walk-on,” he said.
That walk-on is Hunter Renfrow and, as of last spring, he’s not actually a walk-on anymore. Still, it’s easy to see why his image hasn’t been officially upgraded nationally. Renfrow is a skinny 5-foot-11, unassuming and quiet, and he looks far more like the water boy than the star wide receiver.
Turn on the game film, however, and there’s no missing him.
“Never in a million years would you pick him out as -- that’s Hunter Renfrow,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.
Yet, there he was, a year ago in this same spot, utterly frustrating Alabama’s defense with a season-high seven catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns. He’s shorter than the Crimson Tide’s punter, thinner than their kicker. It was David vs. a team of Goliaths, a walk-on against a depth chart overflowing with five-star talent, and Renfrow looked like a star.
“I go against freaks every day,” Renfrow said. “I’m comfortable against Johnny Five-stars.”
Still, in a game built around brute strength, Renfrow is perhaps the most unlikely of candidates to slay the giants at Alabama.
Swinney was friendly with Renfrow’s family from his days as an assistant on the recruiting trail. Renfrow’s father, Tim, was a longtime coach and athletics director. Renfrow played quarterback at Socastee High in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, running the option offense, and it was easy to see the skill set. He was quick and shifty and had good instincts, but he weighed 150 pounds soaking wet and had never lined up at receiver. He had a few offers from smaller schools, but the best Swinney could do was a spot as a preferred walk-on.
“We didn’t promise him anything but an opportunity,” Swinney said.
Turning Renfrow into a player capable of competing on the big stage seemed a monumental effort. His first year at Clemson, he benched 135 just once. He was scrawny and unrefined. But the kid loved to work, and he was lightning fast, running a sub-4.5 40-yard dash and leading the team in the shuttle run.
He’d get pushed around by physical defensive backs, but lining up in the slot he found all the nooks and crannies between defenders and exploited them regularly. Renfrow’s habit of finding the cracks in a defense quickly made him a favorite of quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“Deshaun has a lot of trust and faith in Hunter,” receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “And in those big games, you go to the guys [with whom] you have that comfort and high trust level.”
Indeed, Renfrow has relished the spotlight. In three playoff games, he’s caught 16 passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns, and his breakthrough performance in last year’s championship game earned him a scholarship.
It’s also earned him notice around campus. Where he once blended in with the student population, he now stands out as Clemson’s every man, the guy on the football team who looks like everyone else.
“People can relate to me,” Renfrow said. “I think I give them hope.”
Renfrow considers himself an approachable guy regardless, but as his popularity has grown, he’s been amused by just how casual interactions with complete strangers are. Students see Watson on campus and they’re in awe. They see Renfrow, and it’s like they bumped into their buddy -- the one who just happens to be a star receiver for a team playing for a national championship.
And it would be easy enough to chalk it all up to a few big games, but Swinney sees it differently. He saw something early in Renfrow, and it’s what everyone else senses about him now, what comes through with every catch against a defender who towers over him.
“You can measure how big they are,” Swinney said, “but you can’t cut them open and look at their heart, their drive and their will.”
Renfrow will never be mistaken for Williams, but that heart and drive and will -- he’s got that in spades.
He’s already added nearly 30 pounds to his frame and more than 100 to his bench press. It’s not an end point, but as Swinney said, “He’s like Hercules compared to where he used to be.”
The common comparison is to former Clemson wideout Adam Humphries, another skinny kid with talent that was tough to measure. Scott remembers telling Humphries he would play as a freshman, and Humphries responded by asking if his coach was sure he was ready.
“Hunter’s a lot like that,” Scott said.
They both went and made a few plays, and suddenly everyone could see what had been hidden inside the undersized frame. Humphries is now a star for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Swinney believes Renfrow, too, will have a distinguished NFL career in a few years.
“When that last coat of paint is put on him, he’s going to be something special,” Swinney said.
Clemson will be happy if Renfrow can simply provide one more special performance Monday in a rematch with Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T.
“If you’re just playing best-two-out-of-three video games with your brother,” Renfrow said, “you have a little extra in the championship.”
The spotlight will be bright, the field crowded with stars. Renfrow will be there, somewhere between the hulking giants surrounding him. It’s OK if he goes unnoticed. He’s got a knack for finding his way to the front of the stage.
“They sometimes forget about me a little,” Renfrow said. “That’s easy when you have all the weapons we have. I like it that way.”
