Talawanda High School football coach J.D. Vonderheide has had a focus on offense for most of his life, but don’t think that will mean the 2012 Braves will suffer on defense or special teams.

In addition to being the third-string quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger at Miami, Vonderheide was the RedHawks’ holder for place kicks, so he does have some background in special teams. As a player who did not see a lot of playing time, he had a chance to see the game from the sidelines, which gave him a feel for coaching, and part of that was watching the defense.

“We’ll use a four-man front (on defense),” he said. “We’ll rotate people in on the defensive line.”

He said players in the mix for defensive end are senior Dylan Davis, junior Elijah Mincy, sophomore Eric Mincy and sophomore Andrew Wilson.

The interior of the defensive line is expected to be staffed by junior Hunter Batdorf, senior Michael Morrow, senior Jesse Singleton, junior Justin Glaab and sophomore Dalton Smith.

“It’s a tough group doing a nice job. (The key is) if each guy does his job,” Vonderheide said.

He said he is optimistic about his linebacker corps, led by junior Dakota Byrd at middle linebacker.

“Dakota is the leader of the team, the quarterback on defense. He runs the defense right now,” the coach said.

Sophomore Carson Johnson also will see action at middle linebacker.

At the “SAM (strong-side) linebacker” position will be seniors Austin Lee and Ben Hines.

“It’s a good group of kids. They are full in and do what they are asked to do — blitzing, getting out in coverage,” he said. “Defensive backs Derek Wetzel, a junior, and Jacob Beck, a junior, both are doing a good job.”

At safety, Vonderheide said junior Christian Jones and senior Bobby Dellaripa will be aggressive and put pressure on the front four.

“The defense will try to be aggressive and get a bunch of hats to the football. They are meshing well together and learning a new system. For them to handle it has been nice,” he said.

Vonderheide said special teams often are overlooked by fans and even coaches, especially at the high school level. That’s not the case at THS.

“Special teams have to be special for us. We do enough so people have to prepare for us,” he said.

Junior Sam Poetter will handle the kickoffs and PATs, the punter will be junior Christian Jones, the long snapper will be senior Austin Lee, and the holder for PATs and field goals will be junior Jon Abshire. Kick returners will be sophomore Maurice Thomas and Jones and Byrd.

The special teams coach for the Braves is former Talawanda and Miami punter Jake Richardson, who coached at Miami during the year Vonderheide was on the RedHawks’ staff under head coach Michael Haywood.

“We have an asset in Jake Richardson,” Vonderheider said. “He’s a punter. He’ll coordinate special teams and I feel good about that.”