Tampa, Fla. May 8, 2024 – For USF men's track and field sophomore sprinter Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, so much of his backstory seems like pure fiction.

He grew up in a tiny West African village — in a dwelling without electricity — and ran barefoot to chase down rabbits for food. His first formal competition was on a grass track. He came to America and dreamed of greater opportunities.
 
And now he's one of the fastest men in college track.
 
Indeed, he's one of the favorites to capture the NCAA title in the 100-meter dash and pursue one of the sport's most cherished distinctions.
 
But first things first. Abdul-Rasheed is focused on the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, which begin Friday in San Antonio, Texas. It's a chance for the Bulls to clinch the program's first men's outdoor conference title — USF won the AAC Indoors in February — and formally announce themselves as a legitimate team to watch during the NCAA Championships.
 
Abdul-Rasheed will have plenty to say about that.
 
He could triple by winning the 100 meters (where his 9.95-wind aided led the nation until being recently supplanted by a 9.93), the 200 meters (where he has a 20.34-wind aided), and the 4x100 relay (where he anchored a team that captured the event at the storied Penn Relays and edged Houston by a hundredth-of-a-second at 39.34).
 
According to USF coach Erik Jenkins, there's a strong likelihood that Abdul-Rasheed will represent his nation of Ghana in this summer's Olympic Games in Paris.
 
"He has a chance to be very, very scary,'' Jenkins said. "He has the talent and the desire. Now he needs to go and do it. And he'll be the first one to say that. He has to keep training and working and seize the moment when he has that opportunity.''
 
Abdul-Rasheed's teammates expect him to reach the sport's pinnacle.
 
"Rasheed (his preferred name) is a very interesting person,'' said USF jumper Goodness Iredia, Abdul-Rasheed's roommate and close friend. "Fantastic personality. He's calm, cool and peaceful. He's very, very fast. Incredibly fast. And he's a loyal friend.''
 
At the Penn Relays, Abdul-Rasheed earned two championship watches from the event, representing historic and all-time keepsakes for the sport. Back in Tampa, Abdul-Rasheed presented one of the watches as a gift for Iredia, who competed in Jacksonville that same weekend while pining for the opportunity to be part of something like the Penn Relays.
 
He's a unique guy.
 
"The way he goes about things, the way he moves … it's all just very different,'' said USF sprinter Zayquan Lincoln, a teammate of Abdul-Rasheed on the 4x100 relay. "There's no telling what he might do. Sky's the limit, really.''
 
At the USF Invitational, Abdul-Rasheed said his body "felt free.'' He had a great week of preparations, which included "a good massage.'' When the 100-meter dash was complete — when he quickly noticed all of his coaches and teammates clapping, jumping or exchanging high-fives — the time read 9.95. Many years, that's good enough to win an NCAA championship.
 
Jenkins wasn't particularly surprised.
 
"Any way you cut it, that's extremely fast,'' Jenkins said. "He worked very hard to get to that point. He's very focused and he comes to work every day. There are lots of very talented people, but they don't necessarily take coaching very well. The reason he's going to be successful long-term is he listens, understands, and puts it into practice.
 
"He's precisely the guy I thought he would be when we first heard about him.''
 
Jenkins said he has been successful at recruiting African athletes throughout his career, dating back to his stint at Western Kentucky. A few years ago, he investigated a promising new generation of athletes from Ghana, Nigeria, and Botswana. He noticed Abdul-Rasheed immediately, but the academics needed improvement for a Division I university.
 
After Abdul-Rasheed surfaced at Florida Memorial University, an NAIA school, Jenkins noticed him again. This time, he was eligible to connect with the Bulls.
 
"I remembered the coach (Jenkins) because he reached out to me first,'' Abdul-Rasheed said. "It was a nice city and a great program. I thought I would fit in well.

"Nobody ever thought I would come from that tiny village and make it to this level.''
 
In Ghana, about 80 languages are spoken.
 
Abdul-Rasheed speaks five — English, Dagbani (common in his home area), Twi, Hausa, and Arabic.
 
"If you really think about it, the world is very small,'' Jenkins said. "If you take time to listen, you'll learn a lot about people. It might seem like he (Abdul-Rasheed) is from a place very different, but I think he has similar motivations. Places might be different, but people are people.
 
Some of those people — like Abdul-Rasheed — are very fast.
 
"He's going to get a lot of attention because everybody knows 100 yards — or 100 meters — and the mile,'' Jenkins said. "Those are distances that everyone can relate to. He's very important to us and what we're doing as a program.
 
"We are happy that he chose the University of South Florida. There is a chance for him to be the person who everybody talks about, the standard-bearer. Winning the conference championship is our first order of business. No matter what the rankings are, everybody starts at the same place in the conference championship. So you've got to go and earn it.''

UP NEXT
The Bulls are in San Antonio, Texas for the outdoor AAC Championships Friday May 10-12.
 
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The USF track and field men's team won the 2024 Indoor AAC Championship. Romaine Beckford won the 2023 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the men's high jump as a Bull. The team has earned 56 All-America selections and at least one All-American in 10 of the last 12 years, including a record eight athletes claiming 11 honors in 2021. Tampa native Shaniya Benjamin set a program record earning three All-American honors during the 2021 outdoor season, while triple jumper Matthew O'Neal, a 2016 graduate, became USF's first six-time NCAA All-American. Bulls have posted two NCAA runner-up finishes since 2013 - O'Neal (triple jump, 2016) and Courtney Anderson (high jump, 2013). Head coach Erik Jenkins took over the program in 2020 and in the 2021 outdoor season the Bulls posted seven program records and 40 top 10 all-time program marks. USF hosted the 2018 NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary and the 2021 AAC Outdoor Championship at the USF Track and Field Stadium located on the east end of campus.
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