After playing the role for most of his life, South Florida wide receiver Sean Atkins is no longer an underdog. Finally, in his sixth year competing for the Bulls, Atkins is now looked on as one of the best receivers in the American Athletic Conference, if not beyond.
Teams will no longer be overlooking the 5-foot-10, 172-pound Atkins, whose breakout season a year ago coincided with his team’s.
The Bulls went 7-6, a six-game improvement under head coach Alex Golesh in his first year on the job. Atkins, a former walk-on, was a big reason for the success.
South Florida has been an FBS member since 2000, and Atkins became the first 1,000-yard receiver in school history.
Last season, he had 92 receptions for 1,054 yards and seven touchdowns and earned second-team All-AAC honors.
“It felt great last year because I had the opportunity to showcase my ability,” Atkins said in an interview with HERO Sports.
It took Atkins quite a while to see the field with any regularity.
During his first three years, he totaled 10 receptions for 94 yards and no touchdowns.
He finally got his first serious playing time during a 1-11 season in 2022.
Atkins appeared in 11 games and had 19 receptions for 238 yards and three touchdowns. His breakout performance came in the second-to-last game of the season, a 48-42 loss at Tulsa when he had nine receptions for 115 yards and a score.
It also happened that a true freshman, Byrum Brown, was making his first start in that game. In 2023, Brown became one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country.
“His first start was my first breakout game a couple years ago against Tulsa, and we’ve always had a good connection and he’s one of those guys where you just want to be around because he brings out the best of you,” Atkins said.
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Impressing USF’s Coaching Staff
After that 2022 season, a new coaching staff came in and Golesh wanted to get to know more about Atkins, so he and the staff not only viewed his tape from USF but went back and watched his high school tapes from Viera High School, about two and a half hours from USF.
“He showed a lot of really unique things on film, and then you go back and watch his high school stuff and I got to thinking, ‘This kid is pretty nifty,’” Golesh told HERO Sports.
Golesh said there was a reason he looked at high school film of Atkins and other players.
“Guys that didn’t have a ton of film here, we were trying to make roster decisions as fast as we could and you had to see the entire picture,” Golesh said. “He was in a group of a lot of young guys that maybe hadn’t played a lot. … But I didn’t want to let somebody go that maybe could help us, and he fell into that category.”
Even during difficult times, Atkins, who has earned his undergraduate degree in marketing, noted he never thought about transferring.
“This is just where I felt like I belonged, so I felt like God put me in the position that I am,” Atkins said. “Also, another lesson I learned from a young age is you start something, you finish it. Super loyal, and this is just where I wanted to be.”
Atkins’ Highly Consistent Season
Last season, Atkins recorded two 100-yard receiving games, but he was known more for his consistency. He caught five or more passes in 12 of the 13 games. The only time he was under five, Atkins had four receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns, including one of 88 yards in a 44-30 win at Navy.
“The Navy game was kind of eye-opening for me. I think the first punt I fumbled it, and the first person who came up to me was Coach Golesh who said, ‘Hey man, you got to get out of that, we need you, I love you,’” Atkins said. “That gave me the confidence to go out and have that big-play mentality, and then I scored our first TD of the game and really got my confidence back.”
Trailing 14-0, USF did score its first TD on Atkins’ 1-yard reception. From there, the Bulls were back in the game.
Earlier in the season, another big moment for Atkins came when he played against eventual College Football Playoff participant Alabama. It was a defensive struggle which Alabama won 17-3 in Tampa, but Atkins had six receptions for 42 yards against one of the best secondaries in the country.
“Those are games you mark on your calendar,” Atkins said. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been watching Alabama, but going up there and playing against those guys, the biggest thing for me was understanding that I can go compete with the best. I’m never going to back down.”
It’s possible he could be facing much greater competition a year from now.
“I think that he could play in the NFL,” Golesh said. “His innate ability to get open, his innate ability to understand space, there are a lot of guys like him in the NFL.”
Golesh says Atkins fits the profile of a successful NFL receiver.
“You look at guys that have long-standing careers in the NFL, they are guys who can get open on third down, and he can do that at a high, high level,” Golesh said.
No matter what he achieves, Atkins will always have that walk-on, underdog mentality. He arrived at USF in 2019, and it took him two years to earn a scholarship. He has continued to battle every day as if he is still attempting to make the team.
“I’ve always been undersized. I’ve always been not as fast, but you can’t take the dog out of the game,” Atkins said. “That is why I am still hungry, and I want to prove myself every single day.”
