When Florida State took the practice field Tuesday, a pair of defensive players were with new position groups.

Both sophomore Jaiden Lars-Woodbey and junior Leonard Warner III were still with the linebackers. However, they switched spots with Lars-Woodbey moving from inside linebacker to outside linebacker and Warner moving inside from his previous role as an outside linebacker.

The new positions look to play to the strengths of each of their games after both struggled in the previous positions over the first three weeks of the 2019 season.

Warner's position was up in the air coming into the season after he played both middle and outside linebacker in 2018.

The edge linebacker role fits Warner's skill set as a pass rusher, but he was unable to competently fulfill the pass coverage duties of the position. This was made evident when he was easily beat on a wheel route for a touchdown in Saturday's loss to Virginia.

Warner's move inside hides more of his liability in coverage and gives the Seminoles a starting inside linebacker with significantly more experience at the position than Lars-Woodbey had.

It's unfair to put too much blame on Lars-Woodbey for his struggles at inside linebacker. He was recruited as a safety, played outside as a true freshman and moved inside this year as he's embraced an attitude of willingness to do whatever is asked of him.

However, the move inside has felt like a misstep as Lars-Woodbey has struggled mightily in correctly filling gaps, making him a liability against the run this season.

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At 6-foot-3 and 223 pounds, Lars-Woodbey is undersized to sufficiently fill in as an edge rushing linebacker where FSU needs more depth after Joshua Kaindoh suffered a season ending injury.

That being said, the move outside for Lars-Woodbey will likely put him in more coverage situations and will play him closer to the secondary position he was originally recruited to play.

New defensive quality control assistant Jim Leavitt had a close eye on both linebacker groups during the brief open portion of practice.

It may just be a coincidence, but the timing of the moves could mean that Leavitt -- who watched the UVA game from the sideline -- had something to do with them.

You can reach Curt Weiler at cweiler@tallahassee.com.