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David Newton
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Virtually as if it was scripted, Carolina Panthers large receiver Hunter Renfrow on Monday made a diving catch of a ball thrown barely behind him about 20 toes from the place Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was standing.
It was Swinney, Hunter’s school coach, who talked the 2019 fifth-round choose by the Las Vegas Raiders and 2021 Professional Bowl choice out of giving up soccer whereas he sat out the 2024 season with the autoimmune illness ulcerative colitis.
It was Swinney who had simply stated Renfrow (5-foot-10, 185 kilos) regarded like a standard individual in avenue garments however “became Superman” as soon as he put his helmet on.
Swinney, in a one-on-one interview with ESPN earlier than being corralled into a gaggle interview, stated Renfrow instructed him final yr, “I am performed, I am performed. I am not going to play anymore.”
Renfrow, chatting with ESPN on Saturday, stated it was Swinney’s encouragement and help afterward that satisfied him to present soccer yet another shot.
“He stated, ‘Why would you not [play]? You might have the chance of a lifetime,” Renfrow recalled of Swinney’s pep discuss. “That is a part of what makes him particular. Pushing to get the perfect out of individuals, simply believing in you even when you do not consider in your self.”
Swinney tried to get Renfrow to make a comeback final season when a few groups reached out to the receiver. He stated Renfrow’s focus was on getting wholesome and taking part in for the Panthers, a group he grew up cheering for as a star athlete in Myrtle Seashore, South Carolina.
Renfrow, 29, additionally instructed his agent he solely needed to play for the Panthers as a result of they match every thing he was searching for.
Swinney tried to clarify to his former participant, now a great pal with whom he takes holidays and performs golf and basketball, that is not the way it works. However Renfrow was insistent, and watching him make performs in the course of the group’s first padded observe reminded Swinney of every thing he noticed in 2014 when the undersized receiver walked on at Clemson.
“Hunter likes to play. He likes to compete,” stated Swinney, bragging he beat Renfrow in golf final week. “It would not matter if it is pickleball or making an attempt to throw a frisbee. I imply, he simply all the time desires to compete.”
He added that watching Renfrow lose that spirit final yr “was unhappy for me.”
“He simply bought in a spot the place he type of misplaced his pleasure,” Swinney stated. “He is all the time performed for the love of the sport, but it surely all stems from being wholesome. So, it has been superior to type of see him discover that once more.”
Carolina coach Dave Canales stated Renfrow is taking part in at a degree that reminds him of what he noticed at Clemson, the place he received two nationwide championships in three years (2016 and 2018), and with the Raiders.
It wasn’t nice for Renfrow in 2022 and 2023. Throughout that point, he as soon as went seven straight days with a temperature over 101 levels due to the illness that causes ulcers and irritation within the colon and rectum.
This prevented his physique from permitting him to play at a excessive degree. He had solely 61 catches for 585 yards in these mixed seasons after having 103 catches for 1,038 yards in 2021.
Now he is again to creating performs that give the possession receiver an opportunity to make a much-improved group of Carolina receivers led by 2025 first-round choose Tetairoa McMillan, 2024 first-round choose Xavier Legette and 34-year-old veteran Adam Thielen.
“He is a craftsman,” Swinney stated. “There’s route runners after which there’s craftsmen. And he is a craftsman. I’ve watch him for a very long time. … I am simply pleased he is again out right here. If he stays wholesome, he’ll do what Renfrow does.
“He will get open. And he catches it. And he makes performs. He is not a really large man, however he performs like a 6-3 man.”
