The "Sean Atkins Story'' — somewhere between a Ted Talk and a feature film on the big screen — is well-known to all who avidly follow the USF football program.

It's the tale of an unwanted player — too small and too slow, almost everyone said — who simply wouldn't quit. He walked-on to the Bulls' squad, was largely ignored, took a full academic load and also worked full-time to make ends meet. He arrived early. He stayed late. The whole thing was insane.

After making a smattering of plays over four years (including a COVID and redshirt year), a coaching staff that believed in him — truly believed in him – arrived at USF with an offense that accentuated his skills. The 2023 season was a revelation. There were program records all around — 92 catches, 1,054 yards, seven touchdowns — and Atkins was no longer a warm-and-cuddly story. He was a baller.

Now he's on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List as one of the nation's finest, and maybe the American Athletic Conference's best, at his position. He's also on the radar for NFL scouts.

"You look at this guy and he doesn't look like what a prototypical slot receiver at this level looks like,'' head coach Alex Golesh said. "But he certainly plays that way.''

Toward the end of USF's training camp, Atkins told his story — again — and maybe a few new players were unaware. This time, the narrative was different, more raw and vulnerable than a Disney movie, but still inspirational.

"I went into more of the mental health side of playing college football because it's hard on all of us,'' Atkins said. "The days are long and taxing. You've got to also battle with a social life outside of it. Everything is not going to go your way.

"What I explained to them is football has been my sanctuary. It's the place I can go when my head's not right. You come out here and try to perfect the play in front of you. It helped to elevate myself and my life in an aspect that I never thought would really happen. I told the young guys that you're going to have those dark days, but it's always going to be worth it in the end.''

Golesh said he remembers standing with Atkins – then coming off a shoulder injury – during a special-teams walk-through at fall training camp in 2023.

"I'm like, 'Sean, you're going to be really special … you're going to have a big year,' '' Golesh said. "And he's like, 'You think?' And I said, 'The slots in this offense really have a chance. You're going to have a lot of balls coming your way. We trust you in the red zone. You're going to be really, really special.'

"When he talked to the team the other day, he said, 'Outside of my parents, this is the first staff that believed in me like that.' And it's not a knock on the previous staff, but he needed that push and that confidence.''

And now?

Golesh cackled.

"What you see out of Sean now is juice and energy,'' Golesh said. "He talks smack. He's so fun to be around at practice. He has a crazy amount of confidence right now. And I thought as last year went on, he had a crazy amount of confidence then.

"He's like, 'Man, when I'm out there, no matter my size, no matter my speed, no matter that I was a walk-on or not, I'm gonna route your butt up.' The confidence he exudes now, it goes through the entire team.''

Atkins has paid special tribute to his position coach, L'Damian Washington, the person who "really taught me how to be a receiver.''

For Washington, it was part-technique, part-psychology.

"Confidence is key,'' Washington said. "I always tell guys that a coach can try and give a kid confidence. Truly, it really comes from within. But a coach can take confidence from a kid. I do my best to make sure I'm not that coach.

"Confidence is built by reps. It's built by what you're doing, making sure you're in the playbook, making sure you're standing on top of your stuff. If we wear the hat like that, if we go into games doing our job, we give ourselves a 90-percent chance to come out of the game a winner. … So, what you see from (Atkins), it's great in the games, but it's all about how he prepares and how he believes.''

As the Bulls prepare for the Aug. 31 season-opener against Bethune-Cookman at Raymond James Stadium, what does Sean Atkins believe?

"When (playing) scout team happened, that was personally my favorite time,'' Atkins said. "You played football, had fun and perfected your craft. Then, whenever the moment comes, you're ready for it. Because you've repped it a hundred times.''

"Sean can do whatever it is that his body allows him to do because mentally, he's in the best space he has ever been in,'' Golesh said. "Obviously, people know who he is now, but they still have to stop him. He knows right now that he's the best receiver in this conference and one of the best receivers in the country.''

It's quite a story.

And it's not done yet.

–#GoBulls–