<p class="p1">In this edition of the Three Point Stance, staff writers Warren Arceneaux and Rodrick Anderson discuss area high school offensive linemen, defensive linemen and linebackers.</p><p class="p3"><strong>Who is the best returning offensive lineman and which school has the best group?</strong></p><p class="p1"><strong>WA:</strong> For best individual I will go with Ryan Denison of Iowa, who helped the Yellow Jackets to an undefeated regular season last year. Iowa had more than 1,500 yards both rushing and passing. For best group I will go with Leesville, which has a pair of Division I commitments in Matt Anderson (Nebraska) and Montae Lynch (Stephen F. Austin).</p><p class="p1"><strong>RA:</strong> Anderson, Leesville’s 6-foot-6, 250-pound tackle, is one of the area’s top lineman in recent years and has a three-star rating from 247sports.com. He picked up eight offers before committing to Nebraska. Welsh returns four offensive linemen — John Mayes, Ryan McKenzie, Garren Hebert and Jerrius Brown — who helped lead the team to the Class 2A state title. </p><p class="p3"><strong>Who is the top returning defensive lineman and which school has the best group?</strong></p><p class="p1"><strong>WA:</strong> I’ll go with McKenzie Carrier of Oberlin, a former district MVP, for best individual and Washington-Marion for best group, The Charging Indians have a pair of good ends in Jaylon Ned and Chevis Edwards.</p><p class="p1"><strong>RA:</strong> Westlake’s Cedric Francis is a four-year starter with 28 starts, 4-3A all-district and All-Southwest Louisiana honors. At 6-3, 265 pounds, he is hard to stop and it showed last season when he recorded 69 tackles, eight sacks and 14.5 tackles for a loss. Westlake also has one of the best defensive lines led by Francis. Sophomore Eli Goss (255 pounds) is back and the 300-pound Layne Theriot and 230-pound sophomore Ethan Deshotel will man the other two spots of line that head coach Phil Fontenot is calling one of the best he has ever had.</p><p class="p3"><strong>Who is the best linebacker in the area and which school has the best set of linebackers?</strong></p><p class="p1"><strong>WA:</strong> Welsh’s Alec Iguess for best individual. He is a tackling machine. I’ll go with Rosepine for best set. District MVP Scott Wisby is going to play there this year and he is joined by another all-district player in Matt Williams.</p><p class="p1"><strong>RA:</strong> At 6-3, 215 pounds, Elton’s Kervondrick Scott will light up any ballcarrier when he gets into the backfield and he has the speed to track you down if you happen to think you got away from the first tackler. Sulphur returns two linebackers in its 3-4 defense in McNeese State commitment Jake Lafleur and junior Austin Tramonte and the Tors always have a knack of finding standout linebackers to step up.</p>Three-point Stance