CHARLOTTE — There's been a lot of talk about Hunter Renfrow the past few days.

He's been splashed across social media as Carolina Panthers fans fawned over the receiver juking defensive backs in one-on-ones. His route running in team drills has been broken down ad nauseam by football junkies across all forms of media. And his impact on a relatively young wide receiving corps has been noted by coaches and teammates alike.

"Someone that I've watched from afar, just being a fan of the game for a while," said quarterback Bryce Young. "But getting to see it, having a locker next to him, going to be able to talk and see the things he sees, hear his mindset about how he attacks route running, it's been great for me and for the entire team just to be around."

Most years, this would be par for the course, whether becoming the safety blanket for quarterbacks at Clemson or implementing third-and-Renfrow in the league. But perhaps the most ironic thing surrounding how much talk there has been about Hunter Renfrow the past few days is that for over a year, there was no talk of Hunter Renfrow at all.

"And then I got, after the (2022) season, I was like, I'm never playing football again," Renfrow admitted on Monday of his mindset after finding out he was struggling with ulcerative colitis. "I do not want to play football, right?"

For the next year and change, Renfrow went through trial and very painful error, figuring out how to live a relatively normal life with what would become day-to-day monitoring and vigilance. It's a process that has been well documented through Renfrow's eyes.

The crux, though, was that the receiver made it to the other side and realized there was a lot of ball still left in him.

"Having an appreciation of being back out here, being able to feel like I can run again, feel like I can go out there and have fun with my teammates again, be a part of a team, be a part of pushing towards something special," Renfrow said of what it meant to come back. "And so I think it's all kind of a part of it, and so it's just been an appreciation for me."

There was a qualifier, though: after five years of playing with the Raiders, both in Oakland and then in Las Vegas, he'd had a full year at home, back in the Carolinas, and didn't want to leave again. So, if he was going to return to football, it would be with one particular condition.

"I'm an hour and a half from my house, so I told my agent this is where, if I was going to play somewhere, this was it. Like I would take a visit to the Raiders, but this is where I was going," Renfrow shared. "I love this area and I want to see it succeed."

Joining the Panthers during the 2025 offseason looked a little different than it would have in years past. This is suddenly a crowded receiving corps (aided by Renfrow), headlined by veterans such as Renfrow and Adam Thielen, and dominated by younger playmakers, like Xavier Legette, Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, and Jimmy Horn Jr..

"We have a bunch of different personalities, a bunch of different ages, but amazing. I think we have a really good group. I think we're a really talented group," Renfrow said. "It's the deepest I've ever been around."

When you're a part of such a deep group, the challenge then becomes standing out, something Renfrow has dealt with before. During his time at Clemson, 12 receivers that were four or five-star recruits came through. The competition set a clear expectation. Show up or get out.

"If you didn't show up every day, you're going to get beat out, right?" Renfrow recalled of that time. "It could be one little thing, one little route you didn't run the right way. Next thing you know, they get the opportunity, they're going. So, I think that's part of it."

For a year, Renfrow couldn't show up on the field as his body betrayed him. But while he was away from the game recovering, his mind was still running, years of reps not able to turn off. So, during that time, the man that Dabo Swinney mentioned on Monday was a craftsman at route running, entered the mental lab to devise creative ways to exploit defensive backs on the field.

Now back on the field, he's putting them into action.

"I think the DBs, they see the same routes since they were in middle school," said Renfrow. "They see if someone runs a basic route and then cut, they see that big step, run in, big step run in. So just trying to use that against them, right? Trying to show them something they've seen 1,000 times and give them a little change-up, right?

"And really just think about what you do. You know, coach Swinney's big thing is to win every route vertical. If you can make them think you're running vertical, you can go whichever way you want. That's the biggest threat as receivers, the ability to run by him. And so, trying to set that up and throwing curveballs and changeups in there, it's been good.

"So I have a whole year of just kind of thinking things in my brain when I wasn't playing, but now I can actually go feel good enough to go do them. And so maybe I'll get a little too creative at times, but it's been fun to try things out."

Added Young: "He's someone that you know you can definitely trust. You love that as a quarterback, you know he's going to be at the right place, right time, and so much creativity. But one of the things he does is he's able to stay on time with that creativity, which is really hard to do. So he's done a great job, and we're all excited to watch him keep going."

After a year of silence, there's been a lot of talk about Hunter Renfrow the past few days as he and the Carolina Panthers realize the receiver still has a lot to say.