Barber Makes His Own Name At Robbinsdale Armstrong

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thomas Barber knows the end is near for his high school career at Robbinsdale Armstrong, and it has been a good one on a good team.

"All my friends I've made, I mean, I've created a bond with all these guys growing up from like second grade, third grade, fourth grade," Barber said. "It's finally our senior year and it's just been fun."

He is a 235-pound linebacker; the foundation of the defense.

"Exceptional. A great football player, and I think everybody knows that, obviously with the family and the brothers and the dad around," Coach Jack Negen said. "He's playmaker for us, you know, and he's been a hundred-tackle guy right there at it for the past two years."

And make no mistake -- he has the genes. His father, Marion, was a dynamic running back for the Gophers and the NFL in the 70s.

Marion Barber III -- his oldest brother -- went from the Gophers to the Dallas Cowboys and a multi-million-dollar career.

His other brother, Dom, played for the Gophers and into the NFL before returning to the Gopher's staff. The youngest Barber will start school there next fall.

"It means a lot. I mean, they've done a lot for us and it's just going to be fun just to be where they're at and try to do as big things as they did playing for Gophers, and just try to excel over them," Barber said.

But it is about high school football for now. And when he leaves, he will leave a void.

"He's a better person almost than he is a football player," Negen said. "He's just a class guy in school and a leader on our football team, high-GPA kid and all the character we're looking for."