We’re in the dog days of the football offseason, where team wise, this is a time for physical development throughout the LSU program.
The Tigers begin spring practice on March 8, which is less than two weeks away and there will be plenty of new faces to incorporate into the offensive and defensive structure.
With the hype around another top-10 recruiting class and the No. 1 transfer portal class, sometimes returning pieces can get temporarily put on the back burner.
This week the 247Sports team ran down a list of 15 players it thinks are going to be the “next wave” of college football superstars in the 2025 season. There were quarterbacks, offensive linemen, wide receivers, linebackers and running backs but the one player missing from this list was LSU linebacker Whit Weeks.
Weeks returns as not only the best player on this LSU defense in 2025 but one of the best linebackers in all of college football. He’ll be on a short list for All-American, All-SEC honors going into the season after a 125 tackle season in 2024 that included 10 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 pass breakups and 1 interception.
As part of the list, Ole Miss linebacker Suntarine Perkins and Texas’ Anthony Hill Jr. were included but Weeks should certainly be in that discussion after asserting himself as one of the more well rounded defensive players in the country in 2024. Weeks had three different games in 2024 where he recorded 17 or more tackles, at home against Ole Miss, Alabama and Oklahoma.
LSU won two of those three and Weeks was a big reason why, forcing two fumbles and collecting 4.5 tackles for loss in those games combined.
The curtain call to his 2024 season was cut short in the Texas Bowl against Baylor, where Weeks suffered a gruesome dislocated ankle that will cost him at least a portion of this offseason. LSU has already released several videos of players going through workouts and right in the middle of many of those huddles is Weeks, pumping up his teammates as he continues to rehab his injury.
Taking on more of a leadership role is something Weeks has prioritized going back to before the bowl game, when he was going to the dinners with interested transfer portal pieces and recognizing just how important adding those players would be.
“100%. I’ve been way more vocal in these practices than I was during the season,” Weeks said during the bowl prep.
At the time of the injury, coach Brian Kelly expressed optimism that Weeks would be able to return for at least some of spring practice, though we’ll learn more of an update on his status in the weeks ahead.
Should Weeks make a full recovery and return to full form by the fall, which is the expectation around the building, he’ll be the anchor of this defense that has added several new pieces up front and in the secondary to compete at a much higher level. He’ll play alongside his brother West, second year linebacker Davhon Keys and of course junior Harold Perkins, who is also coming off a serious leg injury that cut his 2024 season short. That’s a lot of experience, talent and speed patrolling the middle of that defense.
There’s no doubt the first two defenses Weeks has been a part of have not been the standard of this program’s past. With him stepping into more of a leadership role and the talent that’s been placed around him, there’s no reason why LSU shouldn’t be one of the most improved defensive units in the SEC in 2025. The accolades and the part Weeks plays in that effort won’t go unrecognized as a result.
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