The competition for playing time
has helped D.J. Lynch become the player that he is today for the Bowling Green football Falcons.Lynch, a
5-foot-11, 244-pound redshirt junior, is the Falcons’ leading tackler this season. A linebacker, Lynch has
78 tackles, including a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss.He was a second-team All-Mid-American Conference
selection this fall.After making three starts in the past two years when he was battling Paul Swan for
playing time, Lynch is a full-time starter this season.”I been playing behind him for two years,” Lynch
said about Swan. ”I’ve been learning from him for two years, and now this was a chance for me to show what
I can do as a starter. I just go out there and play my best.”The competition was intense.”We kept it very
professional. I think that just shows what kind of a person that D.J. is,” said Swan, a fifth-year senior
and team captain. ”We had respect for each other. We knew it was a competition, but we knew at the end of
the day the best players were going to play. He found his way on the field, and we both played a ton. Now
we’re starting together.”With the two pushing each other, they both improved.”We started helping each
other out,” Lynch said. ”The stuff that he was good at and stuff I was good at, we helped improve each
other’s game. That turned out to be a good relationship. Now we’re playing side-by-side, and now we’re
making plays together.”Swan knew from the start that Lynch would be his competition.”He was always someone
who continuingly pushed me,” Swan said. ”It made me a better football player because of the competition,
and because of his work ethic and the way he played. He always pushed me to get to my next level.”He’s a
tremendous player, a great leader. He’s got a motor that doesn’t stop,” Swan added. ”I love playing next
to him. I feel so comfortable out on the field next to him. I know when he’s out there next to me, I have
nothing to worry about.”Adam Scheier, BG’s interim head coach, likes the attitude Lynch brings to the
field.”He brings toughness. He brings some of that BG swagger,” Scheier said. ”He’s a physical specimen
out there. He’s an explosive player.”Lynch said he plays with confidence.”I think I’ve got good instinct,
playmaking ability, and I’m versatile,” Lynch said. ”I can play the pass; I can play the run; I can pass
rush; I’m good out in space.”The Falcons have had a top 10 defense for each of the last two seasons, but
Lynch said the players didn’t take anything for granted before the start of this season.”This off-season we
just had the mind set that nothing is guaranteed. We had a good defense last year, and this year just
because we have a lot of people back, doesn’t mean the same thing is going to happen,” Lynch said. ”You
can’t cheat the process; you have to put the work in every day and strive to get better. We met our
expectations again.”One of the top 30 players in Michigan as a senior at Avondale High School, Lynch wasn’t
a heavily recruited player.”This (Bowling Green) was my only offer. I had other school’s looking at me, but
I guess I was under-sized. I don’t know,” Lynch said. ”I’m here now. I won’t go back and change it for
anything.”Lynch and his teammates have one game remaining. The Falcons, 10-3, face Pittsburgh, 6-6, in the
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl Thursday. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Detroit’s Ford Field.”This is a great game for
us. I didn’t really care where we went to a bowl game, I just wanted to play a BCS team. That’s all I
wanted, and we got that,” Lynch said.