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LSU linebacker Whit Weeks had a decision to make after the 2025 season. After an injury plagued season, his NFL Draft stock was still relatively high.
The Tigers were going through a coaching change, and Weeks was weighing whether to return and potentially learn a new system versus heading to the next level and beginning his professional future. Then the math all changed.
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Defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who was firmly in the mix for the Tulane head coaching job after Jon Sumrall left for Florida, opted to stay at LSU. That was all Whit Weeks needed.
“That’s my guy. I mean whenever he told me that he was coming back, I was like OK, I’m 100%,” Weeks said on SEC This Morning. “I’m all in. If you’re still here, I’m still here. That was my final decision on coming back, was because he was still here.”
The LSU defensive coordinator, one of the game’s highest-paid, is widely regarded as a top defensive mind. He has produced excellent units under multiple head coaches.
Lane Kiffin knew he had something going if he could get Baker to stay. So did the players, like Whit Weeks.
“I love playing in his defense,” Weeks said. “He makes it simple, but it’s also we have so much stuff and do so many things that you’re not just running the same reps every time. Every single play at practice you have a different job, a different responsibility. So as a linebacker, kind of getting everybody set, setting the back seven as well as the front, it makes it a lot of fun to play in that defense.”
Whit Weeks will likely be the heart and soul of the LSU defense again in 2026. And he might just be the bridge the Tigers need to transition from one era to another.
The limelight is still a little new to him, but he’s adapting. Expect all eyes to be on him going forward.
“It is weird, because I mean I’m just a kid from a small town in Georgia,” Weeks said. “And now like if I go to the grocery store people are like, ‘Can I get a picture? Can I get a picture?’ So it’s definitely different for me. But I’ve kind of just embraced it and realized that when you play at a place like LSU that has such rich tradition and history and you’re one of the guys on the team, you’re going to get recognized around Baton Rouge.”
With the territory comes some extra scrutiny. Whit Weeks is ready to embrace that in 2026 and make his mark.
“One of the pressures that comes with it is there’s just a lot of eyes on you at all times,” he said. “You know you can’t really slip up or else somebody’s going to catch it. That’s just one of the pressures that comes with it.”
The LSU captain is ready to roll. Things open up with a bang, as the Tigers will host Clemson on Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in a primetime ABC matchup.
