[Buckskin86]

It appears that sophomore linebacker Etienne Sabino is a second-teamer at this point, as the mental side of the game has been a bit of a struggle for him.

Coming into spring, I felt Sabino may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of James Laurinaitis' and Marcus Freeman's departures. And I'm not writing the kid off by any means, it's just that so far, Brian Rolle, Austin Spitler and Homan are definitely the top three linebackers, and Tyler Moeller may be No. 4.

Of Sabino, linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said:

"He's doing all right. I think he's been hampered just a little bit by playing two different spots in the spring. Being a young kid, two spots is not easy. . . .that?s been a little bit hard on him, so we've kind of here the last couple weeks tried to focus back on playing him at one spot and let him get a little more comfortable."

That spot is middle linebacker.

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