After agreeing to a contract with the Carolina Panthers on April 27, former Clemson star Hunter Renfrow revealed that health issues kept him off the field in 2024.

Now, following a year away from the NFL, Renfrow is healthy again and finally feels like he’s back to his old self.

Renfrow dealt with the autoimmune condition ulcerative colitis, which caused weight loss, fatigue and high fevers. But after working with doctors to get the condition under control, the 29-year-old receiver is making an NFL comeback and eyeing a return to his Pro Bowl form from the 2021 season.

Renfrow says “this is the best I’ve felt since probably 2021, by far.”

“Really, the last three years, I struggled my last two with the Raiders, and last year just struggled with fatigue, but this is by far the best I’ve felt since 2021,” Renfrow said, via Darin Gantt of the Panthers’ official team website.

“It’s like anything: Rome wasn’t built in a day. Just taking it day by day, stacking good days and telling yourself, even though you don’t feel great, that it will get better. Just keep pushing through, putting one step in front of the other kind of mentality. And I feel like I’ve done that and every day I’ve felt better and better and better and better. I’m still not exactly 100 percent where I want to be, but I feel a lot better.”

Per the Panthers’ website, Renfrow has altered his diet – he’s eating a lot of rice, steamed vegetables and chicken, while staying away from processed foods, fried foods, dairy, and sugar.

“My last two years in Vegas, I feel like one day a month I felt decent, while the other 29 I felt bad,” Renfrow said. “Now I feel like there’s one day a month I don’t feel good and the other 29 feel good. So it’s kind of flipped the script. It all stems from what I put in my body, how I feel it, and I’ve just been excited about how I felt.”

This is great news for Renfrow as he embarks on his first NFL campaign since 2023.

Following that season, Renfrow became a free agent in March 2024 when he was released by the Raiders, the team he spent five seasons with after they selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Renfrow’s release came just a couple years after he signed a two-year, $32 million contract extension in June 2022, including $21 million in guaranteed money.

When he was last on the field in 2023, Renfrow had career lows with 25 catches, 255 receiving yards and no touchdowns over 17 games, after catching only 36 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns across 10 games in 2022 while being limited due to injury.

However, Renfrow was highly productive across his first three seasons with the Raiders from 2019-21, tallying 208 receptions for 2,299 yards and 15 touchdowns. He earned Pro Bowl honors in 2021, when he recorded career highs with 103 receptions, 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns.

–Photo courtesy of Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images