Linebacker Mohamoud Diabate went from playing 27 defensive snaps as a rookie to 581 in his second season with the Cleveland Browns. And the jump the former Auburn High School standout could make in Year 3 has Browns linebacker coach Jason Tarver “really excited” about 2025 for Diabate.

Diabate earned a spot on the Browns’ roster as an undrafted rookie from Utah in 2023. He made his contributions on 296 special-teams plays. In 2024, Diabate had 165 special-teams plays as he became a regular contributor on defense, starting 11 games even though he missed four of the first five contests because of a hip injury.

Tarver said Diabate “got in really great shape” between his first and second NFL seasons and carried that objective over into this offseason.

“The first offseason you got to get in the best shape of your life, and now you know it,” Tarver said during the Browns’ offseason program. “And your second one, now you know how to do it, and he’s gotten in even better shape. His explosive numbers are through the roof. He’s running; he barely looks like he gets tired. He’s impressive as heck.

“And now he’s playing all three positions. So when he came in last year, what we do is we give him a home first – one position out of the backers. We’ll all know it all eventually. He had his one position, and when he went in the game, that’s where he played. Now he’s playing the other ones, so he’s done a good job. Like, he had a couple of plays where he’s on the edge of the defense yesterday that he’d never done before, and they were perfect. So very excited with where he’s going.”

In addition to Diabate, linebackers returning for Cleveland include Jordan Hicks, who started 12 games last season; Devin Bush, who started 10; Winston Reid, who started three; and former Maplesville High School star Nathaniel Watson, who started one.

Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah started 41 games over the past four seasons. But a neck injury sustained in the eighth game in 2024 will keep him out for the 2025 campaign as well.

The Browns used the first pick of the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft on UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger.

Cleveland returns from its summer break with the rookies reporting for training camp on July 18 and the veterans coming in on July 22. The Browns’ three-game preseason schedule kicks off on Aug. 8 against the Carolina Panthers. The regular season begins on Sept. 7 with an AFC North game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Diabate earned All-State recognition at Auburn in 2017 and 2018. In his senior season, he was among the three finalists for the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 7A Lineman of the Year Award.

Diabate played in three seasons for Florida before completing his college career at Utah in 2022.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.