Batavia’s experienced defensive back room looks to be a stronghold on ‘no name defense’

BATAVIA — Batavia defensive coordinator Matt Holm has a new name for this season’s defense.

While the team has six returners on the defensive side of the ball, it’s no secret that the guys they brought back aren’t the most recognizable. And it’s a fact that the players have recognized, which makes the nickname an easy one to embrace.

The “no name” defense.

“We don’t have a lot of known athletes, but we play hard, play fast, and we’ll have 11 guys on the ball,” defensive back Chase Osborne said. “We’re gonna be the no name defense. That’s our name.”

And while it doesn’t have a lot of big names, some of the biggest returners on the team come from the defensive backs, which will be a cornerstone on a defense that will look to make a name for themselves

Leading the group is two All-DuKane Conference selections from a season ago in Osborne and Josh Kahley. Osborne lead the team in tackles with 110, while adding nine passes defended and two fumble recoveries. Kahley, meanwhile, led the team in both interceptions (three) and passes defended (14) a season ago. The secondary room also saw the return of Jacob Jansey, who ended last season as one of the team’s safeties.

Osborne and Kahley were also named captains for the 2024 season, which Jansey says has really helped some of the new guys come in seamlessly.

“Chase is an amazing leader on our team,” Jansey said. “And we also have a really good coach also [in Billy Colamatteo], and our guys are doing really well, and it’s going great for us.”

The Bulldogs have seen some big additions to the defensive back position from last year to this year, with some starters even moving to fill in some holes left behind by graduates. Kahley is expected to fill in at safety to take on the role of Kyle Porter, who also had three interceptions last year. On top of that, Drew DiBiase, who mainly played linebacker last year, and Keegan Harp, who was mainly a running back, are expected to make the move back into the safety position as well.

“We kind of experimented with moving DiBiase last year, and he’s been doing really good so far,” Osborne said. “He’s going to be a good run stopper because of that linebacker experience. And Keegan is just a really good athlete who’s stepped up a lot.”

It hasn’t been the smoothest of sailing so far, however. Kahley suffered an injury during summer practices that’s kept him off the football field for the time being. Batavia coach Dennis Piron said the severity of the injury is still unknown.

“It’s been hard, especially since he was a great back for us last year and a lockdown corner,” Jansey said. “But we’re just trying to learn and get the younger guys on the field more. But we still have a solid group, even if we’ve lost a really solid corner as Josh.”

One thing the backs are expecting on seeing throughout the year is some highly touted receivers. The most notable one is Geneva’s Talyn Taylor, who they’ll face during the DuKane’s rivalry week in Week 6.

Osborne, though, feels like the group will be ready to face whatever challenge comes their way, especially thanks to going up against receivers like Isaiah Brown and Brett Berggren every day.

“We face the best competition and all-around receiver group in the conference every day, and we’ve gotten really confident just covering them,” Osborne said. “I love going up against competition, and so do the rest of the backs. It’s a challenge, and we’re always confident going into it.”

That iron sharpens iron mentality has also helped the backs get prepared to face at least six new quarterbacks this season. With the Bulldogs having Bodi Anderson taking snaps against the first-team defense, Jansey says that it’s not only prepared them to face new quarterbacks, but has helped Anderson as well.

“Bodi may be a new quarterback, but he’s a really good new quarterback, and he’s doing a great with the pressure of it all,” Jansey said. “He’s been throwing really good passes against us, calling the plays really well, and just been doing great overall. And so I’d say that is helping us a bit because there are a lot of new quarterbacks, but now we kind of know what we’re going to expect a little bit.”

With Batavia set to begin it’s season against a rush-heavy offense in Glenbard West at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Osborne knows it’ll be a test to not only stop the run, but also make sure to always be ready for a potential big pass play.

“Our main focus is to have our eyes right every single play and to always be ready for the pass,” Osborne said. “But also, we’ve got to be able to come up and stop that run.”