David Newton is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Carolina Panthers. Newton began covering Carolina in 1995 and came to ESPN in 2006 as a NASCAR reporter before joining NFL Nation in 2013. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Almost as though it was scripted, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Hunter Renfrow on Monday made a diving catch of a ball thrown slightly behind him about 20 feet from where Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was standing. It was Swinney, Hunter’s college coach, who talked the 2019 fifth-round pick by the Las Vegas Raiders and 2021 Pro Bowl selection out of giving up football while he sat out the 2024 season battling the autoimmune disease ulcerative colitis.