Former Clemson star Hunter Renfrow talks rivalry game, Dabo and NFL comeback
Hunter Renfrow won’t be in Columbia on Saturday – which might be a good thing for South Carolina, considering Renfrow never lost to the Gamecocks.
But Renfrow will be locked in on the Palmetto Bowl from about 90 minutes north of Williams-Brice Stadium. The NFL’s Carolina Panthers will wrap up meetings around 11 a.m. in Charlotte, giving him an hour to get settled for Saturday’s noon kickoff.
It’s been a big year for Renfrow, 29, a Myrtle Beach native and former Clemson walk-on receiver who caught the game-winning touchdown pass in the Tigers’ 2016 national championship win over Alabama, won another national title in 2018 and remains one of the more popular players in recent program history.
After taking a year off from the NFL while dealing with a colon disease called ulcerative colitis and contemplating retirement, Renfrow made a highly publicized return to the league with his hometown Panthers in April. He and his wife, Camilla, also welcomed their third child this fall (they have three baby girls 5 and under).
Renfrow remains close friends with coach Dabo Swinney and other Clemson staffers and has been a loyal follower and TV viewer of Tigers football since he left campus.
Heading into this year’s Clemson-South Carolina game, The State caught up with Renfrow to talk about rivalry game memories, the state of Clemson and more.
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
What do you remember about game weeks heading into South Carolina?
HR: When I was there, we didn’t lose to them. But before there, we’d lost five in a row. And so coming in, you’re like, ‘Man, we’ve gotta beat these guys.’ The guys before us had started to turn the program around, but we just hadn’t taken that step.
Every game is the most important game. But, with that being said, we had clocks up on the walls that had the countdown to kickoff year-round for the Gamecocks. Your desire was to win that week, but subconsciously, you always had that clock ticking up in the meeting rooms. You knew what it was about.
In 2017 you had a 61-yard catch-and-run touchdown in Columbia. Take you through that play where you outran basically the entire defense.
HR: It was funny. I remember we came out of halftime up maybe two touchdowns. We were better than they were, for sure, and we needed to put them away. Right there after halftime, we were getting the ball in the second half, and I heard my name: ‘Hunter! Hunter!’ ... I turned around, and it was one of my (childhood) friends – one of the 30 friends we’d always have get-togethers with on gameday for Clemson-Carolina. So I turn around, I say hey to him, then I go out there and we score that very next play. … It was like playing in the backyard again.
Does it still surprise you how well you executed that spin move?
HR: Yeah, that was not intentional at all. I don’t think I would’ve scored unless that dude face-masked me, so I’m very thankful for that. I was lucky there.
Is there something extra sweet about beating USC on the road?
HR: It’s good to win at home. But when you can go on the road and play Sandstorm in the locker room after you beat them? There’s not a lot of things better than that.
Would you say Clemson players hate the Gamecocks? What’s the mentality in the locker room?
HR: There’s not a ton of rivalries in the NFL, because you could be on that other team the next year with free agency. College, historically, has always been you go to that school to beat those guys. Everyone wants to beat those guys (USC).
But nowadays, I think it might change a little bit. We had a running back, Tavien Feaster, that was on our team and the next year he’s on theirs. … I wouldn’t say hate is the word, but you can tell how much it means to the people in the building. … You definitely get the heightened sense of wanting to go out there and play well.
The dam hasn’t broken in football yet, but there’s been a lot of former Clemson baseball players that have transferred to South Carolina ...
HR: It’s so weird. … That was the enemy. That was Enemy No. 1. You would never do that. That was so wild to me when people did that. It always was very interesting to me. Maybe it’s just a little different now, but still. Obviously, I love Clemson. If I played now, I can promise you I would not be (transferring) to South Carolina.
What’s been your bird’s eye view of Clemson football this season?
HR: Obviously, we had a lot of expectations. I think it was expectations that a lot of people put on us, because we had a playoff team the year before. But Coach Swinney is one of the smartest and best coaches I’ve been around. He’ll figure it out.
It’s wild how many people think they know better than him, right? It’s like me saying you should have written your article this way or that way. If it’s not your profession, you don’t earn the right, in my opinion, to (criticize). If you want to make a change, you go and you put in the work and you become a coach to make the change.
But he (Swinney) is gonna succeed, and he’ll adapt, and he’ll be flexible in what he has to do. There’s no one I believe in more than him.
How satisfying has it been to accomplish your goal of making an NFL comeback?
HR: It wasn’t the end all, be all for me to come back and play football. I’ve enjoyed it, but I had a blast last year (working in business), and I’m going to have a blast whenever I’m done. And so it wasn’t ‘At all costs, I want to play again.’
But it was a goal that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to be part of a team. I wanted to go fight for something again. I wanted to go end football the right way.
Leaving Vegas, I had a lot of bad taste in my mouth, just with how things went down, not being healthy. I could be cut tomorrow, but however this ends, I’ve had fun playing football again, so it’s been good.
Last one: Are there any players on Clemson you’ve really enjoyed watching this season?
HR: Antonio Williams has played really well. And Tristan Smith – he wasn’t getting a lot of targets early, but he stayed ready. He’s been fired up. He’s been ready to go. I’ve loved watching those two guys and just the way the team has battled. I’m a big fan of all the guys, obviously. But Antonio and Tristan, I’ve enjoyed watching them.
2025 Clemson vs. South Carolina football game
- Who: Clemson (6-5) at South Carolina (4-7)
- When: noon Saturday
- Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
- TV: SEC Network
- Betting line: South Carolina by 2.5 points
This story was originally published November 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM.
