South Carolina officially hires new defensive assistant from NFL ranks

20200517_134556by:Justin Rudolph•01/14/22

The South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Shane Beamer are looking to the NFL ranks to fill a vacancy in their coaching staff. The Gamecocks have hired Jacksonville Jaguars assistant Sterling Lucas to become their next outside linebackers coach.

Lucas will be taking over for Mike Peterson, who left South Carolina to join Billy Napier’s staff at Florida. While he will be assuming the same roles he had with South Carolina, Peterson will be paid more by the Gators

As for Lucas, he’s spent the last six years in the NFL between the Baltimore Ravens and the Jacksonville Jaguars. He spent the first five years of his NFL tenure with the Ravens working in multiple positions before finally joining the Jaguars staff this year. Former Jacksonville head coach Urban Meyer brought Lucas on to serve as his assistant defensive line coach.

This will be Lucas’ first gig in the college football ranks as a full-on coach. Before he went to the NFL, he was a strength and conditioning graduate assistant for two seasons at North Carolina State, his alma mater. That is where he first worked with current South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton white.

South Carolina loses Peterson to rival

Mike Peterson is coming home to the state of Florida after spending time with an SEC East rival. The Gainesville native and former Gator has returned to his alma mater to join Billy Napier’s Florida staff, a source confirmed Tuesday night to Gators Online. Peterson was announced Thursday as outside linebackers coach and alumni liaison.

Peterson has spent the past six seasons as the outside linebackers coach at South Carolina, and also coached defensive ends in 2021. He was the lone holdover on Shane Beamer’s staff and worked under former Florida coach Will Muschamp for seven total years. 

After a 14-year NFL career, Peterson returned to UF in 2013 to finish his degree and worked as an undergraduate assistant coach on the Gators’ strength and conditioning staff. Muschamp promoted Peterson to a full-time position as a strength and conditioning coordinator and then hired him at South Carolina in 2016. 

Peterson played linebacker for the Gators from 1995-98, earning first-team All-SEC and All-America honors as a senior. He was a second-round pick (36th pick overall) in the 1999 NFL Draft and played professionally for the Indianapolis Colts (1999-2002), Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-08) and Atlanta Falcons (2009-12).