Just look at Batavia’s Chase Osborne now.

Players come in all shapes and sizes, and football coaches — the good ones, anyway — know it’s not wise to pigeonhole prospects based on appearance. Players can and do evolve.

Osborne, all 5-foot-9, 165 pounds of him, is one such player.

Due to an injury, the junior defensive back was seeing time at cornerback the first two games of the season. He hadn’t found his niche when another injury opened a spot at safety.

Defensive coordinator Matt Holm and defensive backs coach Billy Colamatteo were well aware of Osborne.

“It was the size issue we were concerned about,” Holm said. “It took him a little time to get used to some of the deeper pass stuff. But then he came in, in game three, in that tough stretch of our conference schedule, and just was lights out.

“The number of tackles he’s had is pretty amazing, considering he didn’t have many reps in the first two games.”

Last week, Osborne tallied a team-high nine tackles in a 45-17 win over Lincoln-Way Central in a Class 7A second-round playoff game, boosting his season total to a team-best 94 tackles.

Osborne may not be tall, but one look and it’s apparent he knows his way around the Bulldogs’ weight room.

“He’s a tight-wound spring,” Holm said. “He comes coiled and ready to go. When he hits you, he pops.

“He may not be the fastest guy on the field, but his reads are so quick, he’s sometimes moving before the offense is in getting there. He’s exactly what we want in the safety position.”

The veteran assistant coach remembered one second-round play in particular that advances Batavia to a 1 p.m. Saturday quarterfinal at Rockton Hononegah (11-0).

It came on a jet sweep.

“Chase was almost getting tackled to the ground by one of their receivers blocking him,” Holm said. “But he fought through the guy and made a tackle for a loss of 6 yards.”

Osborne remembered the sequence.

“I almost got put on a highlight reel on that one,” he said. “Almost got stiff-armed to the ground. Coach Holm really liked that play.”

Senior Kyle Porter, Osborne’s partner at the other safety spot, has 56 tackles and three interceptions and provides a stark contrast. Porter is 6-5, 190.

“I am the smallest guy on the defense, especially compared to Porter,” Osborne said. “I look very small out there next to him.”

Early on, Osborne thought he might be playing cornerback all season but welcomed the move to safety.

“I’m not really a big pass coverage guy,” he said. “My strong suit is the run game, and I just take out legs.”

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He felt summer workouts with very little contact didn’t play to his strength.

Now, his responsibilities vary from team to team.

“Chase and Kyle are a great mix because Kyle gives us that over-the-top coverage when we need it and Chase can come down into the box,” Holm said. “But either one can do both.”

To wit, Osborne has eight tackles for loss, including two sacks, along with six passes defended, three quarterback hurries and two fumble recoveries.

Batavia coach Dennis Piron said Osborne, as a first-year varsity player, hadn’t asserted himself yet those first two weeks.

“He kind of grabbed it and, man alive, he took off,” Piron said. “He’s a sure tackler. As our game wore on the other day, he was just knifing in there.

“I don’t know, if I’m a running back, he’s a nightmare. He’s gonna get you low and he’s gonna wrap you up. Try to break the tackle, someone else is gonna pop you high. He’s really tough for people to deal with, but more than anything, he’s a very tenacious kid and plays super hard like a lot of our guys.”