USF Single-Season Touchdown Catch Leaders: Big-Play Specialist Rodney Adams Holds Mantle

South Florida wideouts Sean Atkins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling hold many Bulls team records, including yardage totals in games, seasons, and (in Atkins' case) careers. But they weren't USF's kingpins of getting into the end zone. Strangely, neither man comes too close to holding the touchdown-reception mark for a single season, set by WR Rodney Adams in 2015. 

Adams was a prolific 6-foot-1 pass-catcher with a knack for the big play, as evidenced by his 18.3 average yards-per-catch from the Lakewood product's record-setting autumn. Adams also starred on special teams at USF before appearing in regular-season and exhibition NFL games with four teams. 

Scroll for a closer look at Rodney Adams' memorable TD reception record from 2015, in addition to the South Florida WRs who set the bar for Adams to clear, and one who rivaled his feats in 2017. 

The transfer portal was kind to teams long before its explosion in the late 2010s. After transferring to South Florida from the University of Toledo, Rodney Adams went on to set a then-school record with 67 catches in the 2016 season. Adams caught 16 touchdowns at USF, good for the second most in school history.

It was Adams' grit and determination that set the bar in his celebrated junior year of 2015. The wide receiver was ailing with injury going into an October kickoff against Connecticut, with the Bulls laboring at just 2-3. Adams played anyway and snagged three TD receptions before finishing with 118 yards.

Adams was also considered a kick return specialist, racking up 1,140 yards on 46 returns. The former Minnesota Vikings draft pick could become a USF Sports Hall of Fame inductee in the future.

Sean Atkins may be known as South Florida football royalty, but the blue-collar star has become a blueprint for success for walk-on FBS players across the country. Atkins joined the USF Bulls while working in food delivery without a scholarship in 2019. The 5-foot-10 Viera product played his first six games as a Bull without a scholarship, finally earning one in 2021. By then, his work ethic transformed him into one of South Florida's most reliable weapons on the boundary. Atkins landed just shy of Adams' TD record twice, with seven TD catches in 2023, and again in 2024. 

In 2023, Sean Atkins became the first 1,000-yard single-season receiver in USF's program history with 1,054 receiving yards. Atkins is tied for the Bulls' team record for most consecutive games with a catch at 31 games. Atkins also produced a record-setting 11 receptions in the 2024 Hawaii Bowl, a rather appropriate swan song for a USF star who got better in every practice and every game. 

Will USF's single-season TD reception record be broken by a steady overachiever such as Atkins, or a fast-rising phenom such as Valdes-Scantling? One thing that's for sure is that in an era of passing on the goal-line, it won't take many downfield gallops with the pigskin for a WR to reach 10 TD catches.

In 2017, McCants matched Elgin Hicks' (2003) and Andre Davis' (2014) mark of seven TD receptions in a single season. Finishing his University of South Florida career fourth for all-time receptions with 127, he is third in career receiving yards with 1,856, and tied for second with 16 career TD catches. 

McCants appeared in four bowl games, even throwing a touchdown pass in the Gasparilla Bowl in 2018. He became USF's career bowl-game leader with 14 receptions and 213 receiving yards.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling was another transfer gem, setting USF's single-season receiving yards record with 879 yards on 53 receptions in 2017 after transferring from N.C. State. MVS ranks 10th all-time at USF with 1,294 career receiving yards. Valdes-Scantling also holds USF's single-season receiving yardage record, capped with a great day in the 2017 Birmingham Bowl. The future NFL standout finished three TDs shy of Adams' single-season record with six TD catches in 2017. 

Valdes-Scantling stands out among South Florida alumni in the National Football League. Entering the 2018 NFL draft, he was picked in the fifth round by the Green Bay Packers. By the time the WR got to the Kansas City Chiefs, he took part in the Chiefs' Super Bowl LVII and LVIII title victories.