Feb. 11, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - Two former Utah State football staff members have new jobs in the National Football League after former Aggie assistant Jim Zorn was named head coach of the Washington Redskins while former USU strength and conditioning coach Mark Uyeyama was named the assistant strength coach for the San Francisco 49ers.

Zorn was offensive coordinator at Utah State from 1992-94. Under Zorn's direction, USU ranked 15th in the nation total offense in 1993 (442.1 ypg) as well as ranking 17th in the country in passing offense (286.2 ypg).

Zorn joined the Redskins after spending the previous seven seasons as quarterbacks coach for the Seattle Seahawks.

He will join former Aggie player Chris Cooley (2000-03), who is a Pro Bowl tight end for the Redskins. Cooley had three catches for 41 yards, including a 17-yard TD catch, helping the NFC to a 42-30 come-from-behind win over the AFC on Sunday.

Zorn played nine seasons for the Seahawks (1976-84), earning AFC Player of the Year honors in 1978 by the Washington Touchdown Club. Zorn became just the third player in league history to pass for 10,000 yards in his first four seasons. He went on to play one year each with the Green Bay Packers, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 1987.

Uyeyama (pronounced U-E-yaw-ma) joined the 49ers after serving as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Utah State Athletic Department from 2004-07.

Uyeyama came to Logan from Arizona State where he worked for three and one half years as the lead assistant for the football team. He was also directly responsible for the newcomer development program, as well as wrestling, track and field, volleyball and tennis.

Uyeyama graduated from Utah in May of 2000 while working as a student assistant strength coach for two years. He then became a graduate assistant at USU in 2000 before moving to another graduate assistant position at Arizona State from May 2001-May 2003 when he was promoted to a full-time assistant.

He competed in football and judo and still competes in Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling. Uyeyama also is involved in Muay Thai Kickboxing.