La'Angelo Albright, Terrell Jackson and Terrance Williams remember the concerns.

They remember the chiding they took from teammates as well as coaches, who were trying to motivate the trio of rookie linebackers at Prattville High School. Some of it was good natured and some of it wasn't.

Sometimes it was intense.

Looking back, the linebackers are glad for it. Saturday afternoon, when the Lions (14-0) take on Hoover (13-1) in the 6A state championship game, the trio will continue to draw on the early-season criticism.

"I think we've improved a lot," said Albright, a 5-foot-9, 184-pound sophomore. "We've stepped up to the challenge. At the beginning of the year, we were called 'young linebackers.' People said we weren't going to be that good, that we wouldn't be as good as when Tim Rawlinson and all the other great linebackers were here.

"But we've proved them wrong."

Some of the best motivation, whether it was intended or not, may have come from opponents.

"(Earlier this year), there were a lot of (teams and players) saying we were garbage, that we were sorry. To be as sorry as we are, we've played pretty good," said Jackson, a 6-foot, 180-pound junior. "There have been a lot teams that have tried to challenge us. They would test us and run right at us. We had to man up. We were thrown in the fire, but we've reacted very well to it. We've matured into the defense."

Linebackers coach Chuck Dunn agreed. Dunn was one of the most concerned people as Prattville entered the offseason last winter. In his first four seasons as the Lions' linebackers coach, Dunn always had a veteran group to work with -- juniors and seniors with size and big-game experience.

"This was the most inexperienced and undersized group of linebackers we'd had since I've been here," Dunn said. "These three guys have 14 games of experience right now. In the past, our starters had double that.

"But this is the most coachable group we've had. Every week, we've been teaching them something new, but they've responded great and done everything we've asked. When this season is over, we may look back and say this is the best group we've had because of what they've done and where we started from."

Despite the early concerns, the trio got off to a fast start. In their first game as starters, the linebackers combined for 32 tackles in a 35-14 win over Theodore.

"I think they decided they could do it after the Theodore game," assistant linebackers coach J.B. Wallace said. "They had a rough spring and were trying to find some identity. But after that first game, they did well and had a great night. That gave them some confidence."

Williams, a 6-1, 180-pound junior, said the season opener was a turning point for the group.

"It was a fun game because we were so intense and we were ready to play," Williams said. "There had been talk that since we were a bunch of rookies, they could just run it down our throat. But they didn't."

Albright currently leads the team with 100 tackles. Williams is third with 79 and Jackson is fourth with 78.

"Back in the spring, the older guys got after them," Dunn said. "It helped them, because when they saw (defensive lineman) Nick Gentry, (defensive back) William Albert or (defensive back) Ricardo Bates getting in their face, it clicked with them. Now, you go in there and ask the other defensive players, and they'll tell you how far these guys have come."

Bates said the rest of the defense is "proud" of the group.

"They've done a good job this year," Bates said. "They've turned the nonbelievers into believers."

Williams and Jackson said the older players have "pushed" them to succeed.

"Game in and game out, we have to step our game up to be able to play on the level that those guys play at," Jackson said of Gentry, Bates, Albert and others. "This is their senior year and they're giving it their all. When we go out there, we want to lay it on the line for those guys. It's their last year and we want them to have a ring as bad as we want one for ourselves."