Football Strength & Conditioning Staff Finalized

University of South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer and head football strength & conditioning coach Luke Day have announced the hiring of four assistants who will work in the weight room during the 2021 season.

The quartet includes long-time NFL strength coach Chip Morton, former Gamecock football player Byron Jerideau, and two assistants who worked with Day at Marshall University, Mitch Okey and Nate Sedergren.
 
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Chip Morton coached in the National Football League for 27 seasons from 1992 to 2018, working as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the San Diego Chargers (1992-94), as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Carolina Panthers (1995-98), as an assistant for the Baltimore Ravens (1999-2001), and again as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Washington Redskins (2002) and Cincinnati Bengals (2003-18).

During his NFL career his teams compiled a cumulative record of 228-201-3. In addition, Morton has coached two Super Bowl teams – the 1994 Chargers and the 2000 World Champion Ravens

Prior to working in the NFL, Morton served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for Ohio State (1985-86) and Penn State (1987-91).

Morton earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina in 1985, and a master’s degree from Ohio State in 1986.
 
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Byron Jerideau returns to his alma mater after a three-year stint at Tennessee where he served as an assistant director of sports performance for the Volunteers’ football program. He worked under former Gamecock head strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald in 2018, the first season of Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure in Knoxville, then remained on staff as A.J. Artis took over as the Vols’ head strength coach.

Prior to his arrival in Knoxville, Jerideau spent two seasons working in the South Carolina weight room. He also assisted with recruiting and worked with the Gamecocks’ defensive line.

Jerideau’s career in strength and conditioning began when he accepted a role as a strength and conditioning intern for football at the University of Houston in the spring of 2015. He then spent the 2015 season as an assistant strength coach for football at Appalachian State.

A native of Green Pond, S.C., Jerideau began his collegiate career at Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College where he helped lead the Greyhounds to an 11-1 record and a national championship. He then transferred to South Carolina where he was a three-year letterwinner from 2010-12, playing defensive tackle while earning a degree in criminal justice. He appeared in the 2013 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and played for the NFL’s San Diego Chargers in 2013.

Jerideau is still considered pound-for-pound the strongest player in Gamecock history with a 500-pound bench, 670-pound squad and a 365-pound power clean to his credit.
 
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Mitch Okey comes to Columbia after a one-year stint at Marshall where he worked closely with Day. Prior to his arrival in Huntington, Okey worked on the Georgia football strength staff in a part-time role.

Okey spent two years (2016-17) at Georgia Southern. In 2016, he was in a G.A. role before serving as Interim Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for Football from July to December. In 2017, he was in an assistant role for football and served as the Head Strength Coach for women’s tennis, track & field and cross-country. 

Prior to that, he logged a year at Central Florida, working as an intern for four months before serving as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the remainder of his tenure with the Golden Knights.

Okey played baseball while earning a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Flagler College in 2015. While still an undergrad, he interned as a strength and conditioning coach for the Saints’ softball, volleyball and men’s soccer teams. He earned his master’s degree in kinesiology from Georgia Southern in 2017.

Okey is a certified strength and conditioning specialist – NSCA.
 
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Nate Sedergren spent the 2020 season working with Day at Marshall as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. Prior to being hired at Marshall, he worked at UT-Martin for five years as the Director of Sports Performance for football and baseball.

Sedergren began his professional career working as an assistant strength coach at Gardner-Webb where he was responsible for training women’s basketball, men’s and women’s track, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s golf and softball. He also assisted with football and men’s basketball.

A 2012 graduate of Western Carolina with a degree in communications, Sedergren played linebacker for the Catamounts and was a team captain as a senior. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and has a Level 1 Performance Coach Certification through United States Weightlifting (USAW).