TAMPA, FLA., JAN. 9, 2026 – South Florida Football Head Coach Brian Hartline today announced another big piece to the Bulls program, introducing an outstanding strength and conditioning staff that will lead the Bulls training and development.

Antonio Turner has been named head strength and conditioning coach, following Hartline from Ohio State where he served as the associate director of strength and conditioning under Mickey Marotti since 2023. He helped develop Buckeye teams that won the 2024 College Football Playoff and earned the No. 2 seed in the 2025 CFP.

Turner, from Tacoma, Wash., came to Ohio State after a season at Ole Miss (2022) and has worked with the football programs at UMass (2021), Florida (2020), Iowa State (2019), Maryland (2016-18) and Mississippi State (2015).

He earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology and exercise science from Malone University (Ohio) in 2015 and was a member of the Malone football team. He holds NSCA and CSCCA certifications and recently published an article on Sorinex titled The Importance of Having A Disciplined Team.

Turner will lead the strength and conditioning staff for Bulls football, with EJ Foster, Jacob Hillmann and Ed Sykes serving as assistant strength and conditioning coaches and Ben Ledwon serving as sports science coordinator.

Foster comes to South Florida from Mercer where he served as assistant director of football strength and conditioning. Foster has also worked with the football programs at Stanford and Florida State as well as with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars. Foster earned his bachelor's degree from the University of West Florida and a master's degree from Florida State.

Hillmann comes to South Florida after two seasons serving as the director of football performance at Eastern Illinois. He has also previously worked with football programs at Eastern Michigan and Ohio State and was a four-year member of the Iowa State football program playing tight end. He earned his bachelor's degree from Iowa State.

Sykes comes to South Florida after a season as assistant strength and conditioning coach at Bowling Green and having previously spent three seasons working with the UMass football program in strength and conditioning. He also has experience working with the football programs at Ohio State and Florida and earned his bachelor's degree from Lock Haven University.

Ledwon comes to South Florida after a season serving as a sports science fellow with the Rutgers football program. A Florida State University graduate with bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting, he has also worked with the football programs at Florida State and Northern Arizona.

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ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 29th season in 2025. In 2025, Bulls went 9-4, earned a third straight bowl appearance, made the program's first College Football Playoff ranking appearance, and were ranked four times in the weekly AP Top 25 poll. USF completed construction on a new $22-million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $349-million on-campus stadium and football operations center broke ground in the fall of 2024 and is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 18 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 35 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft while the Bulls have made 13 bowl game appearances (going 8-5), which is tied for the third-most in the first 25 seasons of a program's bowl eligibility. USF posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016, while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.