Plant cornerback Mazzi Wilkins announced Monday that he plans to sign with South Florida, yet another local recruiting victory for new head coach Willie Taggart.
“It’s official I’m committed to the university of (South) Florida,” Wilkins said via his Twitter account.
Wilkins, a consensus three-star recruit on most recruiting services, had more than a dozen scholarship offers from major-college programs including Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse.
At 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds, Wilkins has the quick feet, long arms and versatility that colleges covet in defensive backs. He recently ranked No. 41 in the Tampa Bay Times’ HomeTeam 100.
Wilkins’ commitment gives the Bulls at least four defensive backs in their latest recruiting class, including Devin Abraham of East Lake and Deiondre Porter of Jefferson.
Seven of USF’s 15 commitments in the Class of 2014 are from the bay area.
Taggart might have had an advantage in the recruitment of Wilkins, given that Plant head coach Robert Weiner was a member of the USF coaching staff for about 48 hours in January before deciding to return to his old position.
USF also signed Wilkins’ teammate, linebacker Mitchell Wright, in its most recent recruiting class.
Joel Anderson can be reached at janderson@tampabay.com or on Twitter @jdhometeam.