Hunter Renfrow on How 2015 Can Impact 2022, and Much More

Former Clemson Tigers and current wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders Hunter Renfrow met with the media for his postseason interview and had some powerful statements regarding his team, the future and what he can learn about coming up short in 2022 from his time with the Tigers.

"The biggest thing has been continuity really," Renfrow said. "I know that's a hot topic. We're all awaiting the announcement for what this off-seasons going to look like. I feel like every NFL year is probably similar. Who's staying around, who's leaving, who's going to be here next year. And so, once we have that group set, I think at Clemson in 2015 we lost a National Championship. In 2016, we won it. Having the same guys there and being able to work with them all off-season and have that spark of, we were close, but now we got to get it done, drove us all off-season. And so just the continuity of it. Then just digging in and having that excitement that we're close, and that alone should keep us working pretty hard.

Question:
Hunter on the last play of the season, what was your assignment on it? And what was the frustration level just to have the season end that way so close to the end zone?

Hunter:
Yeah. We tried to throw it to Zay, who was having a great night, and is having a great last half of the season. Really been one of the better players for us. And, just didn't get it done. Derrick had to make a play. He had to fit it in there, and so he did. I had an opportunity to play before, to go out and score, and I didn't, and on scramble. I had my opportunity. I thought it was a good play call, especially what they'd been showing all night. We just didn't, their NFL players is in the red zone, and we need a throw to score, so they know what's coming.

Question:

Hunter, a number of your games came down to that same situation where you're having to come back at the end of games to win them. How do you take that next step? I mean, that's a great accomplishment, but you don't want to always be in that position. Sometimes the law of averages are going to get you.

How do you make that next step to avoid being in that predicament all the time?

Hunter:
Yeah. I mean, got to take care of the ball a little better. We had that turnover, and offensively, that's checks or whatever it is, we got to do a better job of. And then we got to get on them early. We got to score. First drive, I believe we kicked a field goal. Is that right?

On the first drive. Get a touchdown there. We got to go score. And our red zone offense is something that we struggled with yesterday and really the last couple years, we got to get better at that. We're open to all ideas. We're trying to get better at that, and we're going to get better at that. I feel like sometimes this year we showed some improvement, but it's something we need to hang our hat on and become very good at, instead of just average. And so, jumping on people early definitely helps. But it is good this year when it did come down to the last minute. We pulled it out more times than not, and that's something we can hang our hat on.

Question:
Hunter, as a receiving core, you guys had an interesting year just because early on in the season, since you guys weren't running the ball as well, you had to throw the ball more, which obviously meant more targets, more reps. And then what happened in the middle of the season with Henry and then Darren getting hurt, you guys like yourself, and Edwards, and Zay probably had to carry a bigger burden. How do you feel you all grew as a receiving core as a result of that greater workload and having more responsibility as a season went on?

Hunter:
Yeah, first I can't say enough good things about Derrick and how it didn't matter who was out there. Really he's done that his whole career. He's a special player, and no matter who's out there, he's going to find the ball and get us opportunities. And so as a receiver group, we just got more and more confident as the year went along. It's not necessarily what we expected going into the season and get that many opportunities, but it's something that we can grow on, and as we go on to next year, get better at for sure.

Question:

Hunter, you mentioned some of the uncertainty and some of the changes that might be coming. Sometimes that's inevitable from one season to the next, but there are some pretty big decisions that might be made. How important do you think it is at the top, coaching and General Manager to keep the continuity that you guys have already started with that?

Hunter:
Yeah. I mean, that's obviously not my job to ... I know my role. My role is to go out there and play, but I do know one thing and that's for me personally, I love Rich. Whoever they bring in here is going to do a great job, but I think Rich has proven that he can do it at this level, and we love playing for him. We play hard for him. And he's done a great job. I think he can lead us if given the opportunity. We'll see how the cards fold. We'll obviously love whoever they bring in, and we'll work towards winning a Super Bowl next year.

Want to join in on the discussion? 100% FREE! Interact with fellow Tiger fans and hear directly from publisher Zach Lentz, deputy editor Brad Senkiw, recruiting analyst Jason Priester and staff writer Will Vandervort on any subject. Click here to become a member of the ALL CLEMSON message board community today!