The last time I stood on the sidelines and watched this Clemson team warm up before a game, I couldn’t help but think back to the Florida teams under the Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier. Those teams were big, long, and fast. You knew the other team had no chance against these thoroughbreds.

That’s what Clemson looked like to me; almost a carbon (look it up) copy.

The last person to fit that description was WR Hunter Renfrow. He simply didn’t look the part. At 5-11 and 180 pounds, the sophomore was easy to overlook and had to walk on at Clemson to be a part of this incredibly athletic group.

But sometimes, the biggest and fastest can learn a thing or two from a player like Renfrow. You can’t measure heart in warm-ups. What you can measure is stats, and Renfrow has piled them up at Clemson; making the team and then making the most of his opportunity.

Even after missing a month with a broken bone in his right hand — suffered by making a spectacular catch in Clemson’s 30-24 victory over Troy back on Sept. 17 — he wasn’t to be denied. Renfrow returned with a vengeance and worked his way back into the rotation leading up to Monday night’s Championship game rematch against Alabama.

His 2-yard touchdown pass reception from QB and game MVP Deshaun Watson, with 1 second left in the game, knocked Alabama off its pedestal and lifted the Tigers to a most dramatic 35-31 victory early Tuesday morning in Tampa.

“You can’t put it into words,” Renfrow said of winning the title in a postgame TV interview. “Just keep believing.”

As the clock struck midnight, eastern time, Renfrow and the Clemson Tigers were headed for destiny. The Tide killer, who earlier hauled in a 24-yard touchdown pass from Watson midway through the third quarter, caught four touchdown passes over two national championship games against Alabama and five total in the postseason.

His single game career-high 10 pass receptions led all receivers in Clemson’s championship victory. He totaled 92 of Watson’s 420 yards passing. It was 1 yard shy of his single game career-high of 93 receiving yards in a game last season at N.C. State.

In just two seasons the overachiever has pulled in 67 passes for 895 yards and nine touchdowns. On Monday and into early Tuesday, he quietly helped Clemson win its first  national championship since 1981 and beat Alabama for the first time since 1905.

If this game is any indication, he’s only getting better and he certainly won’t be overlooked in the 2017 season for the national champion Clemson Tigers.