Their defensive coach calls one experienced, another analytical and one instinctual.

One is a three-year starter. The others paid their dues on the junior varsity level before getting a chance to play a significant role in their final season.

One has played under the lights of the Superdome. The others got their first taste of big-game atmosphere a couple weeks ago at West Monroe.

However it’s sliced, Barbe senior linebackers Khoury Kraus, Bradley Bryant and Leonard Lada have been leaders on an improved Bucs defense tasked with giving a young offense time to grow up.

Barbe has grown as a team and sits at 4-2 and 2-1 in District 3-5A play heading into Friday’s matchup with New Iberia.

“We have three three-year starters, two two-year starters. Everyone else had minimal experience,” said Barbe defensive coordinator Paul Demarie. “We had to wait for them to come along — and they have, a little faster than we thought. They’ve been in our system so long that they knew what we expected.”

One of those three-year starters is Kraus. By both his coaches and peers, he’s cited as a team leader for both his play and character.

“Khoury’s a good player and a good person outside of the field,” Lada said. “Every Thursday we go to his house and his mind-set is that he’s already ready for the game.”

Bryant and Lada have taken a tougher road to the Barbe starting lineup. They’ve played together since middle school and on Barbe’s junior varsity team.

Yet their roles couldn’t be more different. Bryant, the analytical, and Lada, the instinctual, combine with Kraus to enhance the defense.

But that’s been difficult to do this year. Bryant has struggled with a stinger problem this year, causing him to miss three games and each of the last two weeks.

While it’s affected him, he’s done his best to still be an asset to the team while Lada has filled in for him.

“This year I finally got the chance to step on the field and be a part of this defense,” he said. “It’s (hard) to be on the sideline these last two games but I do my best to keep the guys up. I don’t let my negativity and my being hurt affect them.

“I don’t let them see that side. I just try to be as positive as I can and be one of the leaders. When they come off the field, I’m the first one out there to congratulate them and just really trying to be a part of it as much as I can. I knew (Lada) could step in and do it no matter what.”

Lada, as a friend and teammate, understands his role as the free-wheeler. He says nerves don’t factor into his play.

“When coach puts me in I can’t be wide-eyed,” he said. “I’ve gotta go out there and do my best. I don’t think about anything when I get out there. In the week, I get nervous but when I get in the game I forget it. I just get out there and make my reads.”

Win or lose, it’s a group that plays with a chip on its shoulder after questions were raised about whether their team was due for a down year.

“Practice,” Bryant said. “The way we practice (is) very hard. It’s all of us, the whole team. Practice is what makes us click on the field.

“I feel like we have something to prove this year that other units didn’t. Coming into this year, people thought Barbe was going to be down. We play with a chip on our shoulders because we knew people would be doubting us.”(Rick Hickman/American Press)