Auburn DC and Visalia native Roberts headlines COS Football Clinic on May 5

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

A Visalia native coaching on college football's biggest stage is returning to his roots May 5 as the featured speaker at College of the Sequoias' Football Clinic.

Ron Roberts, the defensive coordinator at NCAA Division I Auburn University of the mighty Southeastern Conference, will be the last of five speakers lined up by Giants coach Travis Burkett and staff.

Other speakers include former Sequoias head coach Al Branco, Fresno State quarterbacks coach Matt Wade, Clovis East High offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Colby Hunter and Liberty-Bakersfield head coach Bryan Nixon.

The clinic is free to all area coaches, and will be held in Sequoias' Ponderosa Room. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.

"These speakers are all home runs in terms of their expertise and knowledge," Burkett said. "It's going to be a great opportunity for guys to get better at football."

Roberts, a former player at Golden West and Sequoias, will speak about defense starting at 5 p.m. 

He will share knowledge gleaned over a 32-year career, including one season at Mt. Whitney before making the jump to the collegiate level.

Before being hired by Auburn on Dec. 22, 2022, Roberts spent the previous three seasons at Baylor, where he coordinated a defense that helped the Bears capture the 2021 Big 12 championship and make their first Bowl Championship Series/New Year's Six bowl in the modern era.

Baylor punctuated the 2021 season with a 21-7 victory over Mississippi in the Sugar Bowl as the Bears held the Rebels to 28.9 points below their season average. Baylor had a Sugar Bowl record 10 sacks.

Roberts has also been an assistant at Louisiana-Lafayette, Delta State, Texas State,Tusculum College and Greensboro College, and had head coaching stints at Southeastern Louisiana and Delta State.

The clinic begins at noon with a discussion of Football 101 wisdom by Branco, who went 110-56-1 and led Sequoias to eight bowl games during his 16 seasons between 1973-1988.

Wade, who was a teammate of Burkett's during their playing days at Saint Mary's, is scheduled to speak on offense and quarterback play starting at 1 p.m.

Hunter, who was on Burkett's first staff at Sequoias in 2020, is set to present on recruiting and pure progression of the passing game at 2 p.m.

Nixon, who Burkett has known since he was the Central San Joaquin Valley area recruiting coordinator for Cornell, will speak on program building and program development starting at 3 p.m. Nixon helped develop two future NFL quarterbacks in Cody Kessler and Jordan Love.

There will also be a presentation by Sean Conners and Steve Jacoby of web-based recruiting platform ETS at 3:30 p.m.

A clinic social, sponsored by ETS, is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Visalia's Barrelhouse Brewing.

"It's a big deal for football in our area," Burkett said. "We want to be a part of the good word of football and help promote the game."