Longtime Liberty County Recreation Department volunteer William Roberts had a surprise for the kids in his 5th Quarter Elite football camp Tuesday morning.

Roberts, along with friends Demetrius Williams and Frank Troupe, started the camp in March, offering free clinics to young players. Tuesday, the day before their final day of camp, campers were visited by Liberty County football coach Kirk Warner, Bradwell Institute coach Greg Hill and current Panther football player and five-star prospect Richard LeCounte.

“I reached out to both coach Warner and coach Hill,” Roberts said. “I told them what we were doing over at 5th Quarter Elite and that I wanted them to come check out and speak to the kids, and they both were glad and excited to come down.”
Roberts said the campers have been working out three or four days a week and looked forward to guest players who taught the kids the fundamentals of the game.

Earlier this month, Roberts said current Wake Forest football player Jacquez Williams helped. Last week, LeCounte, just after returning from Nike’s The Opening in Oregon, came out.
“The kids were very excited to see Richard out there and for him to run through drills with them. … It made their day,” Roberts said.

He said the campers appreciated all the help.
“The kids loved both of them, and I want to thank both of them for coming out,” he said.
Roberts coaches football at Lewis Frasier Middle School, has been an assistant at Liberty County for five years and coaches the LCRD Raiders (ages 11-12) and the Jaguars (ages 9-10).

He said he approached Warner and Hill so they would understand that the focus of the camp was to teach football and keep kids engaged in the sport and out of trouble.
He said he also wanted to show that despite on-field rivalries the high school coaches work together for the benefit of the community and children.

“My main goal was to let them know what we were doing was for the youth in Liberty County as a whole,” Roberts said. “To get them both together in front of the kids to let them know both schools do co-exist.”
Warner, Hill and LeCounte ran the campers through drills, talked about the importance of basic skills and had fun playing football with the kids.