After something of a breakthrough, 6-5 2022 campaign in the California Community College Athletic Association, College of the Sequoias football has retooled its coaching staff under Travis Burkett as the Giants prepare for their 2023 season.
Burkett’s guidance of the COS program to a six-win campaign marked just the third time in the past dozen years that the nearly-hundred-year-old California program posted a winning slate.
David Rico leads the COS offense and coaches the team’s quarterbacks while Donovan McJunkin is the team’s assistant head coach, as well as the program’s director of placement for student-athletes going on to compete at four-year institutions.
Marcus Alonzo handles the Giants’ offensive line, and Trey McJunkin coaches wideouts and serves as the team’s passing game coordinator for the coming season. Anthony Rodriguez Jr. and Jeremy Gomez both work in assistant coaching/quality control capacities for the Giants’ offense.
Additionally, former COS standout-player and ex-Hawaii Rainbows lineman Gene Pryor has also come aboard the Giants’ staff to assist with the offensive line. Pryor has pro football experience, is still hearing from some NFL teams and is already setting in motion a coaching career for when his playing career concludes.
The COS defensive staff is paced by Matt Mendonca, Burkett’s defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Mason Ruiz coaches the COS defensive line and also serves a dual-capacity role as the Giants’ student-success, recruiting and academic coordinator.
Kurt Jehning handles the Giants’ outside linebackers, and Sean Knox is the secondary coach and defensive pass game coordinator. Jake Johnson is both the COS director of football operations and an assistant coach along the defensive front.
Brenton Bray is COS’ special teams coordinator.
“We have a really good staff,” Burkett told FootballScoop, “and they all could be D-1 coaches or beyond if they wanted to.”