Minkah Fitzpatrick talks Renfrow ahead of the Sugar Bowl

Last season Deshaun Watson led Clemson on the game-winning drive to bring home the Tiger's second national title. Although Watson was tremendous against the Crimson Tide, it's been former walk-on Hunter Renfrow who has been the thorn in the side of Alabama's defense during the past two championship games. 

Yesterday, Minkah Fitzpatrick spoke again about Renfrow and much more as the Tide prepare for the Tigers.

Minkah Fitzpatrick | Defensive Back | University of Alabama

On how much the final play has been on their minds leading up to this game:

“I mean, I haven’t been thinking about it, for real. I mean, we lost the game, but we just took lessons from the loss and we applied them. You can’t really think about the last play. You can’t think about what you could have done differently. You just have to worry about how you can prepare differently, what decisions can you make differently throughout the entire process leading up to the game but, thinking about the last play isn’t going to help anything at all.”

On Kelly Bryant:

“I mean, he’s a good quarterback. He’s a big guy. He runs the ball really well, almost like a wildcat every single snap, but he can also throw the ball. He makes smart decisions with the football. He has really good athletes on the outside that he can get the ball to. [He] gets the ball deep to Deon Cain. Gets the ball and fits it into tight windows with Hunter Renfrow. He does a real good job at what he does.”

On the attention to detail, focus and intensity in practice:

“It’s just like any other game. It’s just the next game. Obviously, it’s a high-level game but, you know, everybody’s been doing their job , focusing on what they have to do and that’s really been something we have been focusing on…just doing your assignment, focusing on execution. I think everybody’s been doing a good job at that.”

On Hunter Renfrow:

“He just does the job really well. He’s not going to out-physical you or outrun you. He gets the ball out in space, makes people miss, and he’s a real shifty guy, smaller guy, so it’s hard to tackle him in space. So you know, when he does that, then he also has great receivers around him, so you really just can’t focus on him. So when you have that challenge he proposes, it’s very hard in the secondary, linebackers, to stop a player like him.”

On having someone special coming to the game to cheer him on:

“My family, that’s about it. It’s really cool because they’ve been with me through everything, you know. And having come and watch me play on this stage of the caliber is really cool. They always come to the games to watch me play.”

If you can take us back to the last play with the touchdown last year with Clemson, what is going through your mind at that junction and the emotion that you're feeling today? 

"I don't remember it.  I don't really watch it that much.  I don't watch TV or ESPN where they play it. And I only watched the game two or three times. We watched it in film a little bit because of the pick play. We're practicing against it. But we lost the game, and we're not going to feel happy after losing the game. So that's about it."

Can you talk about how that motivated a lot of the guys towards the next season and how you guys had to work this year? 

"For myself, I just took the lessons that we learned from the loss and applied it to this season in this spring and this summer. And I think we carried it over pretty well for the most part. And I think a lot of my teammates did the same thing."

Rashaan Evans | Linebacker | University of Alabama

On his injury:

“I felt really limited with the injury I have. It took me some time to get back and feel how I wanted to feel. It was very stiff but getting the chance to play through some of these games gives it a chance to get better.  The break time too has made it a lot better for me to be able to run like I want to now.”

On if he thought the injury was season-ending:

“For sure. For any player to go through the things that I went through, I thought maybe this was it. I was a little scared, but when I got back and looked at it wasn’t too bad.”

On what makes Clemson’s running backs unique:

“They’re all very versatile. They all can make big plays. Most of the time they like to get it to those guys on the perimeter to give them a chance to get on the outside and run. I think they’re going to use their whole rotation on us to try and break us down. Clemson does a pretty good job of utilizing those guys whatever their skillsets are.”

On motivation:

“Real motivation, fabricated motivation is, all the same, depending on how you take it. We really don’t listen to a lot of the media. Some of that stuff really clouds your mind. All we can really do right now is stay focused and look forward to this game. How we play will determine if that stuff is true anyway so that’s all we’re worried about.”

On injuries within the Alabama defense:

“We were pretty broken down. We had a lot of guys that were hurt. A lot of people thought we were too broken down and didn’t have a chance of making it here. But on the inside now that we’ve had this break I feel like it’s the best thing that could have ever happened to us. I’m really excited for this upcoming game, just the fact that we had a lot of guys that were hurt and now are coming back.”