South Carolina, football strength and conditioning coach Luke Day will have a team of four assistants. Head coach and day Shane Beamer announced the hiring of Day’s team on Thursday afternoon.
South Carolina Athletics Communications and Public Relations
The quartet includes longtime NFL strength coach Chip Morton, former Gamecock footballer Byron Jerideau, and two assistants who worked with Day at Marshall University, Mitch Okey and Nate Sedergren.
—–
Chip Morton trained 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 a lead strength and conditioning coach for the Carolina Panthers (1995-98), as assistant to Baltimore Ravens (1999-2001), and again as chief of strength and conditioning coach to Washington Redskins (2002) and Cincinnati Bengals (2003-18).
During his career in the NFL, his teams compiled a cumulative record of 228-201-3. In addition, Morton 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 fitness coach for Ohio State (1985-86) and Penn State (1987-91).
Morton graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1985 and earned a master’s degree in Ohio in 1986.
—–
Byron Jerideau returns to his alma mater after a three-year stint in Tennessee, where he served as assistant director of sports performance for the volunteer football program. He worked with former Gamecock strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald in 2018, Jeremy Pruitt’s first season in Knoxville, and then remained on the team when AJ Artis took over as the Volleyball strength coach.
Prior to his arrival in Knoxville, Jerideau spent two seasons working in the weight room in South Carolina. He also helped recruit 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 spring 2015. He then spent the 2015 season as an assistant football strength coach at Appalachian State.
Born in Green Pond, SC, Jerideau began his university career at Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College, where he helped lead the Greyhounds to an 11-1 record and a national championship. He then moved to South Carolina, where he was a card winner for three years in 2010-12, playing defensive while graduating 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 weight-for-weight the strongest player in Gamecock history, with a 500-pound bank, 670-pound squad and a 365-pound powerhouse to his credit.
—–
Mitch Okey comes to Columbia after a year in Marshall, where he worked closely with Day. Prior to his arrival in Huntington, Okey worked on the Georgia football strength team in a part-time role.
Okey spent two years (2016-17) at Georgia Southern. In 2016, he held the position of GA before serving as an interim strength and head conditioning trainer for football from July to December. In 2017, he served as a football assistant and served as a key strength coach in women’s tennis, athletics and cross-country.
Prior to that, he spent a year in Central Florida, working as an intern for four months before serving as a strength and fitness training assistant for the remainder of his tenure with the Golden Knights.
Okey played baseball when he received a bachelor’s degree in sports management at Flagler College in 2015. Still in graduate school, he interned as a strength and fitness coach for the Saints softball, volleyball and men’s football teams. He obtained his master’s degree in kinesiology from Georgia Southern in 2017.
Ok is a certified strength and conditioning specialist – NSCA.
—–
Nate Sedergren spent the 2020 season working with Day at Marshall as an assistant strength and fitness trainer. Prior to being hired at Marshall, he worked at UT-Martin for five years as Director of Sports Performance for football and baseball.
Sedergren began his professional career working as an assistant strength trainer at Gardner-Webb, where he was responsible for training women’s basketball, men’s and women’s athletics, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s golf and softball. He also helped with football and men’s basketball.
Sedergren graduated in 2012 in West Carolina and majored in communications. He played as a linebacker for the Catamounts and was a team captain as a senior. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and has a level 1 performance trainer certification by the United States Weightlifting (USAW).