The Oakland Raiders are hoping this season will be a renaissance year. With an abundance of rookies on the roster, hopefully the power of youth will drive the team to success.
One of those rookies is wide receiver Hunter Renfrow, who is one of three players the Raiders drafted out of the reigning NCAA champion Clemson Tigers.
The fifth-round pick saw limited time in the team’s first preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams, although he got some more time in the second game against the Arizona Cardinals. Renfrow caught two passes for 26 yards in that contest.
Despite his small size at just 5’10” and 185 lbs., Renfrow has already received praise from quarterback Derek Carr during his first game, via Raiders.com:
“He’s someone that understands football, it doesn’t take him long to get it. Usually, with a rookie receiver there’s a lot of grooming, a lot of teaching, you kind of just have to put them outside and let them run single cuts, but we can throw him inside, run choice routes, run different option routes and all these kind of things and he can handle it. Being able to have that is a different dynamic – that the way coach is calling certain plays that we haven’t done in a while. We had different kind of guys, and being able to have that along with everyone else that we have is going to be fun.”
Carr’s praise must have some merit as the Raiders have officially listed Renfrow as one of their starting wide receivers. He will be starting alongside Antonio Brown and Tyrell Williams and will likely see time in the slot.
Renfrow spent all four years at Clemson and averaged over 530 receiving yards per season. He is most known for catching the game-winning touchdown in the 2017 National Championship game against Alabama.
It will be interesting to see how much Renfrow can contribute to the Raiders offense in the upcoming season. Of course, Brown will be the Raiders biggest weapon on offense, but that could leave room open for Renfrow to blossom. The Raiders finished last season with only the 18th highest overall total passing yards. Between Renfrow and Brown, things are bound to change in 2019.
