Perhaps it’s the ultimate sign of respect for a defensive player.

A quick look at the defensive stats for the Catholic High Panthers shows that senior defensive end Alex Guilbeau really doesn’t have that many tackles.

It’s not because he can’t make tackles, it’s more because opposing teams tend to run away from Guilbeau’s side of the field toward CHS’ other defensive end, Marlon Brown.

“Alex is an undersized guy that started getting some playing time for us as a sophomore,” CHS head football coach Brent Indest said. “He’s a really intuitive guy. He doesn’t run real fast and he doesn’t jump real high but I still consider him an exceptional athlete because he’s extremely well coordinated.”

Indest added that Guilbeau can change direction really well and is very smart when it comes to the game.

He also plays a bonus role for the Panthers.

“We plays tight end on occasion for us and once it starts cooling down he’ll probably play even more at that position,” the CHS coach said.

But it’s on defense that the CHS senior makes his mark for the Panthers.

“Alex does a lot of what we call ‘causing plays,’” Indest said. “He might not make the tackle but he’ll stretch the play out or he’ll stifle an offensive lineman which causes the back to bounce.

“He makes his share of plays. He sniffs out screens extremely well and he’s a pretty good pass rusher.”

That was evident against Jeanerette last week when Guilbeau only had a couple of tackles but put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and just missed out on a couple of sacks in the 63-6 win over the Tigers.

As for the senior, he just quietly goes about his business of making the Catholic High defense better and is quick to defer credit to his teammates.

“I got guys around me making plays as well so I do

n’t have to do everything myself,” Guilbeau said. “I have Armon (LeBlanc), Marlon, Ben (Hymel), all kind of guys that are seniors with me.”

Guilbeau added that even though there aren’t a lot of seniors on this year’s team that won the state title last year when they were juniors, they didn’t come into the year taking anything for granted.

Guilbeau and the rest of the seniors knew that they had to earn everything again from the start of the 2018 campaign.

“This year is a new year and we have guys stepping up and making plays and just being big,” he said.

The CHS senior credits a lot of what he has accomplished to the players that were ahead of him when he started as a freshman.

“We had a lot of guys in the past who were able to teach me different techniques,” he said. “We had Zi’Yon Hill, Jacob Lanassa — we came in their footsteps and they taught us.

“Z’Yon comes back every now and then and teaches us stuff that he learned at UL.”

Hill is playing for the Ragin’ Cajuns now.

And again Guilbeau credits a lot of his success to his teammates.

“A lot of what I do is because I’m not double-teamed,” he said. “Marlon is on the other side and he takes on the double-teams so I can do what I need to do.”

But he’s also aware that teams will come into the CHS game wanting to make statement and take down the defending Division III state champions.

“They are going to give us their best shot,” Guilbeau said. “We know that we can’t overlook anyone. We have to take each game and each opponent seriously every week.”