Auburn Hills Avondale High School foootball player D.J. Lynch, foreground, gets help from an unidentified teammate with reversing his jersey during practice. Photo taken on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at Avondale HS in Auburn Hills, Mich. (The Oakland Press/Jose Juarez)

AUBURN HILLS — At first glance of Auburn Hills Avondale senior D.J. Lynch’s helmet, one might assume he’s a pirate or something.

Along the back of Lynch’s purple helmet are three red stickers depicting a skull and crossbones.

But no, Lynch isn’t someone with an eyepatch over his eye and a bird on his shoulder.

Instead, those stickers are given out by Avondale head coach Steve Deutsch every time one of his players gets a big hit on an opponent.

Actually, it’s more than a big hit.

It’s a really, really big hit.

A decleat-the-opponent-and-send-him-upside-down-kind of hit.

The stickers are rarely given out by Deutsch during a season, but after the first five weeks of this season, Lynch already has three.

He would have more, except Deutsch doesn’t give out the stickers if the team loses, thus the two bone-jarring hits Lynch had in a Week 3 loss to Detroit U-D Jesuit didn’t net him any stickers.

“Last week, he had two skulls one play,” Deutsch said. “If he hits you, he doesn’t stop. He’ll just go and find somebody else. His motor is always running.”

Because of that motor and a propensity to cause physical pain to opposing ballcarriers and blockers, Lynch has established himself as one of the top linebackers not only in the county, but the state.

Bowling Green certainly knows how good Lynch is, because it offered him a scholarship that he accepted over the summer, which means Avondale has a future Division I college player on the field all the time each Friday.

And when we say all the time, we mean all the time.

“He doesn’t want to come off the field,” Deutsch said. “I have to take him off sometimes.”

On offense, Lynch is a running back/slot receiver who is capable of making big plays every time he touches the ball.

“The other day, he caught a 3-yard route and took it 66 yards for a touchdown,” Deutsch said.

Lynch is also a regular on special teams, and last week against Ferndale, he came through the line and blocked a critical punt.

But while he’s a standout on offense and special teams, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Lynch’s biggest trademark is as a crushing linebacker who’s constantly looking for contact.

“If I’m not getting the ball on a play, that’s what I’m looking for,” Lynch said. “On defense, I’m just looking for the big hit. I’m always trying to knock the ball loose from somebody.”

In fact, Lynch’s love for hitting was the big reason why he didn’t play flag football when he was younger. There’s obviously no hitting allowed in flag football, so he just simply waited until he got the age where he could play regular youth football and have opportunities to knock the tar out of somebody.

Lynch was a relative unknown in the recruiting world until this summer, when he went to a scout.com camp in Chicago and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds.

From that point on, more and more college programs started to inquire about him, but Lynch decided to accept Bowling Green’s scholarship offer after the Falcons’ coaching staff saw him at a camp on their campus in July.

So far this season, Lynch has been a big reason why Avondale is off to a 4-1 start and 3-0 in the Oakland Activities Association Blue Division heading into a game at defending OAA Blue champion Bloomfield Hills Lahser on Friday.

The Yellow Jackets have barely more than 30 players on their roster, aren’t particularly big along the line and have been ravaged by injuries, but yet are two wins away from making back-to-back trips to the state playoffs.

“It’s been a challenge, but we’ve been overcoming it this year and playing as a team,” Lynch said.

Avondale hopes to overcome another obstacle against Lahser, which has two excellent linebackers of its own in seniors Drew Stokas and Tiaan DeNysschen.

Given that, this Friday’s tussle will showcase three of the best linebackers in the county.

Lynch said he played alongside Stokas and DeNysschen in middle school before moving to the Avondale district and is friends with both, so he hopes to have a nice battle with his buddies to see who can make the most plays.

“This is the game I’ve been waiting for,” Lynch said. “There has been a lot of talk between us three about who is the best Oakland County linebacker. I’m about to show them on Friday night.”

If Lynch does, expect more skull and crossbones stickers to be on his helmet next week.



E-mail Keith Dunlap at keith.dunlap@oakpress.com