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P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L > > Cabinda is now a 6-foot-1, 245-pound sophomore and Penn State's starting Mike LB. The initial plan had been to put him at Will – he actually started there in the opener against Temple – but he returned to Mike after Wartman-White went down again, this time with a season-ending knee injury against the Owls. Pry believes he will only get better, bearing in mind that he is still learning how to play line- backer. At Hunterdon Central High in Flem- ington, N.J., Cabinda was a standout run- ning back who rushed for a school-record 49 touchdowns in three seasons as a starter. He also played defensive end until his senior season when he switched to linebacker. Therefore, his true freshman campaign with the Nittany Lions was his first season focusing strictly on the LB position. "So it's been a little bit of a learning curve for him, just becoming more of a defensive player, but he's one of those guys, even if he doesn't know what to do, he'll go 100 miles per hour and throw his body around," Pry said. "That leads to good things." Going full-speed, all the time, is one of Cabinda's main philosophies on the foot- ball field. "That's how I've always played," he said. "If you watch my running back film, I ran hard as hell. I always do things 100 per- cent." Teammate Austin Johnson believes that's what's going to help lift Cabinda to even greater heights in 2015. "He just has a high motor and he's always near the ball," the defensive tackle said, "so it's going to be a really good season for him." During his freshman season, there were times when going pedal to the metal wasn't always enough. Pry recently said that Cabinda "had good instincts in the box, [but] he was a liability on the perimeter and in the throw game." As an example, Cabinda points specifi- cally to that debut vs. Northwestern. Bob Shoop called a blitz and Cabinda's re- sponsibility was to jam the No. 2 wide receiver at the line of scrimmage to disrupt his seam route. Cabinda whiffed. The mistake resulted in a deep pass down the middle of the field, caught by that very same wide receiver he was sup- posed to knock off balance. Said Cabinda, "That was a critical error." There were other instances throughout the season in which he struggled in the pass game. Maybe his footwork was off- kilter, or his hands weren't in the right place, or he was using the wrong tech- nique. When it came to defending passes, Cabinda's skills could best be described as raw. Which isn't an extraordinary claim considering how he played most of his high school career as a pass rusher and a bruising tailback. This off-season, however, Cabinda honed in on that aspect of his game. "I'm my biggest critic," he said. "I'm very hard on myself." So during spring NEW LINEBACKERS Cabinda (above) tries to pull in an errant pass in Penn State's opener against Tem- ple. He wasn't able to make the intercep- tion, but since arriving at PSU last year, he has improved his pass defense. Reeder (right), made seven tackles in his first ca- reer start against Buf- falo. Steve Manuel

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