Hunter Renfrow no longer catches teams by surprise. They still can’t stop him

Hunter Renfrow was one of the most popular players at Clemson’s media day for the Sugar Bowl this past week as TV cameras and reporters crowded around him to get his thoughts on the upcoming matchup with Alabama.

Renfrow smiled and answered questions about how he was able to score a pair of touchdowns in each of the past two national title games against the Crimson Tide, including the game-winner last year.

“Just two years ago at this time, I don’t think I was even invited to this little (media day) thing,” Renfrow said at one point. “I think I was a starter but they probably invited Deon (Cain) or somebody like that. It’s been cool to kind of see it snowball over time.”

Renfrow isn’t just receiving more media attention now than when he was a freshman. The junior is also getting more attention from opposing defenses.

He has turned into Clemson’s most reliable weapon and Kelly Bryant’s favorite target when the Tigers need a big play or a third-down conversion.

Renfrow was almost an afterthought on Clemson’s talented and deep receiving corps early on in his career, but that’s certainly not the case now.

“I think for him there’s no doubt his first year or two he was kind of surprising people on the scene. Now he doesn’t surprise anyone,” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “Now his play allows us to get other guys open. A key play against South Carolina, on third down, they decided to double team Hunter and we threw the ball to Tee Higgins in man-to-man coverage on the other side on a sky route.”

Of course just because teams pay extra attention to Renfrow, and at times put an extra defender on him, doesn’t mean they can stop him.

The Myrtle Beach native had four catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns against South Carolina, despite the Gamecocks clearly setting out to stop him.

“As a wide receiver I think the biggest compliment you can have is be a guy, when the other team knows the ball’s coming to you, and maybe they know what route you’re running, and you can still get open,” Scott said. “Hunter’s done that time and time and time again.”

Alabama will likely have a game plan to stop Renfrow as well, particularly after his success against the Crimson Tide the past two years.

“I’ve told him he probably needs to be lifting double here over the next few weeks because the first time they get a chance to take a shot on him they’re definitely going to get everything they can,” Scott said.

But as Renfrow has proven all year, just because a team game plans for him doesn’t mean they can stop him.

Renfrow leads the Tigers in catches with 55, is second in yards with 571 and second in touchdowns with three.

“I definitely do (think they’ll be gunning for me). I thought they were going to be last year as well and they kind of played kind of over the top some and let me get free. So I’ll be interested to see,” Renfrow said. “But at the end of the day, my job is to get open. I’m not going to do anything I haven’t done before. I’m just going to do what I do, do what I do in practice and try to be myself.”

This story was originally published December 23, 2017 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Hunter Renfrow no longer catches teams by surprise. They still can’t stop him."