Whit Weeks stepping up as a leader during LSU Texas Bowl prep

LSU has arrived in Houston for its Texas Bowl matchup with Baylor on Dec. 31 and one of the most important pieces is starting to raise his voice in the locker room. 

Linebacker Whit Weeks is likely to be on many preseason watch lists and All Conference teams in the weeks and months leading up to 2025. After seeing his role greatly improve in year two with the Tigers, leading the team in tackles with 119, which was also good for No. 3 in the conference, Weeks will return as a junior and seasoned vet to help anchor this defense. 

The unique story is he’ll have both of his brothers in that linebacker room alongside him but the improvement this defense makes will in part be due to what kind of player Weeks develops into over the course of the next eight months. That process has already begun from a leadership perspective, where Weeks is becoming more vocal in the month since the regular season came to a close. 

“100%. I’ve been way more vocal in these practices than I was during the season,” Weeks said.

A happy go lucky person who just loves playing football, there’s another gear that Weeks hasn’t hit as a player and should he reach that height, he’ll be one of the most active defensive players in the entire SEC in 2025. But that will have to come with a focus on improving in a couple of important categories in the spring and summer months.

“Always working on the technical and the tactical. I gotta get better in those areas if I want to reach the goals that I have,” Weeks said. 

Luckily he’ll have Blake Baker there to help in that process. Baker has proven he can do wonders with talented linebackers he has multiple years to help shape and Weeks is arguably the most physically gifted inside linebacker in the last five years at LSU. What a junior offseason looks like for him is very exciting to think about as he’ll be at the center of what the Tigers do defensively in 2025. 

Mix in West Weeks, Davhon Keys, a talented freshman signing class and several of the transfer portal pieces added to the front seven, this is an athletic, playmaking defense that will have an opportunity to take another critical step forward next season. But before all of that comes into focus, finishing off the calendar year on a high note is where Weeks and this 2024 roster is working towards.  

With more than a month to prepare for this bowl game, these practices leading up to the New Year’s Eve matchup with Baylor have been important for the 2025 roster. Incoming freshmen DJ Pickett, Harlem Berry and Damien Shanklin have been a few of the players spotted out at Houston getting some early work in with the team.

But even as LSU gets some of these younger, foundational pieces more involved, there are times where Weeks says the Tigers have had some fun and let loose during practice. One example Weeks gave was the linebackers and running backs switching sides of the ball for a few minutes during 1v1 drills. 

LSU will participate in a rodeo event on Thursday that is put on by the Texas Bowl and then rest up before the game on Tuesday. The end goal is to walk out of Houston with a win, which would mean a three game streak to end the year. It’s not where the program wants to be but it is momentum going into the new year. 

“We’ve been having a lot of fun out there. When you get to December, it’s a long time until you play so you gotta find ways to have fun,” Weeks said.