Ex-Clemson star Renfrow opens up about his NFL future, possible retirement
A year away from football forced former Clemson wide receiver Hunter Renfrow to take a long, hard look at his relationship with the game.
He then returned to the NFL with a new perspective.
“I used to think I loved football,” Renfrow said recently. “And I really don’t.”
That’s not to say Renfrow, 30, regrets anything about his journey. He’ll always be the walk-on from Myrtle Beach who became one of the best receivers in Clemson history and caught a game-winning touchdown pass in the 2016 national championship.
And he’s loved his time in the league with the Las Vegas Raiders, where he was a 2021 Pro Bowl selection, and the Carolina Panthers, his hometown team.
But football itself isn’t what actually drives him, Renfrow said.
“What I’ve realized with myself is football is fun, but the only reason why I like football is because I get to compete,” Renfrow said. “That’s why I like business, and that’s what I’m looking forward to after football’s done. I get to compete the rest of my life in whatever I’m doing.”
Renfrow laid all this out during a Nov. 21 phone interview with The State. The call was initially set to discuss Renfrow’s memories of the upcoming Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry game and his widely publicized NFL comeback.
But a post-practice interview wound up veering into other big-picture topics. Renfrow was eager and willing to discuss his NFL future, his post-football plans and how much a drop in family time with his wife and daughters had been weighing on him. He also hinted this could be his last NFL season.
“100%,” Renfrow said, when asked if he was operating on a year-to-year basis and could potentially retire this offseason. “Absolutely. For sure. Without a doubt.”
The 2025 season hasn’t gone as planned for Renfrow, who signed a one-year contract with Carolina in April after sitting out 2024 while battling a chronic bowel disease. The veteran slot receiver has been a healthy scratch nine games in a row.
It’s a far cry from his time at Clemson, where he set a program record for consecutive games with a catch (43) and was a key contributor on two national title teams under Dabo Swinney. Or his 2021 season in Las Vegas, when he caught 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns for a playoff team.
But a lack of playing time isn’t why Renfrow’s thinking about life after football.
It’s family.
Time that you don’t get back weighs heavy
Renfrow and his wife, Camilla, are high school sweethearts who married in 2019. They have three daughters ages 5 and under, their youngest born in September.
Renfrow said his wife has been a “rock star” as they’ve juggled having another baby with Hunter’s NFL comeback – “I have not changed a single diaper,” he joked – but returning to pro football has also been a wake-up call.
The Renfrows split time between Greenville, South Carolina, where they have a home and plan to live long-term, and the Charlotte area, where they have a temporary spot. The practices, the meetings and the road trips add up. Every hour Renfrow spends with his NFL team is an hour he misses with his girls.
Not that he’s complaining. Football has been great to Renfrow – the website Spotrac puts his career earnings since 2019 just over $27 million. He’s had a great experience with the Panthers organization and coach Dave Canales. And work-life balance is possible in the NFL. But Renfrow said his priorities have shifted.
“For me, it’s just time away from the family. ... I think anybody can go out there and run hard, right?” Renfrow said. “Anybody can lift the weights and go through it and deal with the pressure and the adversity. But time is something that passes and you don’t get it back. So you’ve gotta think hard and long about doing it.”
Could 2025 season be Hunter Renfrow’s last in NFL?
Renfrow, once described as one of the NFL’s best route-runners, got a taste of “normal” life last year as he recovered from a serious bout with ulcerative colitis. He was largely off the grid. He attended Clemson football games as a fan. Most notably, he bought into his uncle’s company, ESS Industrial, a large-scale recycling company based in Woodruff, South Carolina outside Greenville.
Renfrow was surprised how much working in business development for the company scratched his competitive itch – just like playing football did.
“Football allows me to compete, and it allows me to be part of a team,” Renfrow said. “And I love being a part of a team, and I love driving toward a goal with people. But if I grew up in, let’s say, India, then I’d probably love cricket, right?”
When he retires, he added, “that kind of business competitiveness is what I’ll enjoy.”
Renfrow, who turned 30 on Sunday and will be a free agent after this year, hasn’t made a formal decision on his NFL future. The Panthers (8-7) control their playoff destiny with two games to go, and an injury could always open up an opportunity. Other NFL teams showed interest in Renfrow when he was briefly on waivers in August, so perhaps another team could give him a shot in 2026.
Regardless of what happens, Renfrow said he’s “had a blast” with Carolina.
And whenever he hangs it up for good, he’s ready for his next chapter.
“I wanted to go end football the right way,” Renfrow said. “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.”
This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Ex-Clemson star Renfrow opens up about his NFL future, possible retirement."
