USF football recruiting notebook: Bulls back in the hunt for coveted wide receiver recruit

The South Florida Bulls football coaches are on the road late this week with it being their bye week. Things are heating up for the staff as they not only look to potentially add more players but also hold on to their commit list that includes 22 prospects.

The Bulls’ lone four-star commit of the class — Greenville (Ga.) High athlete Antavious Richardson — flipped his pledge from USF to Notre Dame earlier this week. Alabama and North Carolina were also in pursuit. Richardson was pledged to USF as a cornerback; Alex Golesh and Co. are making that spot a huge priority moving forward.

Running back, linebacker and wide receiver are three other positions the staff is working on adding at for the 2025 class in the high school ranks, but there’s more on the table for potential moves. And when it comes to the receiver position specifically, much of the conversation has been about Cantonment (Fla.) Tate’s Christian Neptune, a three-star prospect per 247 Sports and Rivals. USF is continuing to battle for Neptune in their hopes of landing the talented pass catcher.

And one of the more popular USF targets in the 2025 class is back on the board. St. Augustine (Fla.) High’s Carl Jenkins Jr., the No. 713 overall player and No. 112 wide receiver in America per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, committed to UCF over USF, Louisville, Mississippi State and others in late June. But he decommitted from the Knights a couple days after UCF was embarrassed at home, losing to Colorado 48-21.

His decommitment came as a surprise, but it gives the Bulls an opportunity to pair up Jenkins with his high school quarterback at the next level.

St. Augustine’s Locklan Hewlett, a 6-1, 180-pound three-star prospect who flipped from Wake Forest to USF in the spring, talks daily with his star teammate about potentially joining him in Tampa at the next level.

“CJ is a great football player and one of my closest friends,” Hewlett told On3 this week. “I selfishly want him to come to USF and play with me, so I’m going to put effort into him doing that. But at the end of the day, I’ll respect any choice he makes and be happy for him.”

Their connection has been strong on Friday nights. Through five games this fall, Jenkins has hauled in 28 passes for 354 yards with 4 touchdowns. Hewlett is completing 68 percent of his passes with 1,157 yards, 10 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

South Florida looking to flip Cincinnati commit?

Newburgh (Ind.) Castle’s Benny Patterson, the No. 922 player and No. 93 defensive lineman nationally per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, is seeing his recruiting stock soar. Florida State, USC and LSU have offered him in recent weeks. His most recent offer came Wednesday from the South Florida Bulls.

Patterson has been committed to Cincinnati since April, but we’ll see where that trends moving forward.

An interesting connection for USF to Patterson is that the Bulls are in pursuit of his teammate — 2025 linebacker Gavin Leach, who is committed to Toledo.

Bulls in the hunt for JuCo offensive lineman

USF is looking to add immediate help on the offensive line for the 2025 season. The Bulls extended an offer to Senatobia (Miss.) Northwestern Mississippi Community College offensive tackle Jahkeem Shumpert earlier on Sunday.

A source tells On3 that he’ll be one to keep a close eye on. Shumpert was a class of 2023 high school prospect who will be a junior with a redshirt year available at the next level. He reports that he’s received 30 division one offers. Some of his recent scholarships besides USF have come from New Mexico, Memphis, Liberty, Appalachian State and Western Kentucky.