Whit Weeks had a busy winter.
First, the junior linebacker played a part in convincing Lane Kiffin to come to LSU. Then he decided to forgo the NFL Draft and return to school for his senior season to play for Kiffin, his girlfriend’s dad. And that was all before January, when he stuck around Baton Rouge during winter break to recruit players in the transfer portal to play with the Tigers.
On top of all that, he was recovering from a broken ankle that limited him to just three games over the second half of last season.
“I was pretty messed up,” Weeks said. “… It was definitely a grind to get out there at the end of last season.”
Weeks’ schedule has slowed down since then. His only focus currently is getting healthy as he continues to recover from his ankle injury. The ailment has kept Weeks off the field since LSU football spring practices began on Tuesday.
“Just trying to get healthy right now. I‘ve been grinding in the weight room,” Weeks said. “I don't like not being out there with the guys, but the number one goal for me right now is just to get healthy.”
Weeks suffered his injury in Week 5 against Ole Miss. It was a different break to the same ankle he injured against Baylor in the Texas Bowl at the end of his sophomore season. His injury, the one he suffered against the Rebels, improved to the point where he could play on it through the final two games of last year.
The only reason, he said, he played against Western Kentucky — LSU’s second-to-last game of the year — was so he could be on the field with his brothers, West and Zach.
“I was like, ‘This is the only opportunity we’ll get in our life,’ ” Weeks said. “I'm like, ‘I'm not going to remember the pain.’ I just remember how fun it was being out there with them.”
Weeks says he didn’t stop feeling pain in his ankle until the end of the winter. He’s since been cleared to run and will start testing his ability to move side to side by the end of this week. He hopes to join the team on the field by the end of the spring.
“I’m almost back,” Weeks said. “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
But before he could determine his timeline to return to the field, Weeks had to decide on his future at LSU first. Despite his injury last season and helping lure Kiffin to Baton Rouge, he had a chance to forgo his senior year and declare for the NFL Draft.
A strong junior season could have made him a first or second-round pick. But after the way it ended, he wanted a chance to finish off his tenure in Baton Rouge the right way.
That, combined with defensive coordinator Blake Baker turning down the head coaching job at Tulane and remaining at LSU, was why Weeks came back for his senior year. Weeks said that he probably wouldn’t have returned if Baker hadn’t come back for a third season as the Tigers’ defensive coordinator.
“There was just one moment I was driving in my truck and it hit me,” Weeks said. “I was like, ‘I can't leave this place yet. I’ve got too much left to prove here.’ The beginning years of my career have not really gone how I wanted them to go, and I can't go out like that.
“I told my dad, I was like, ‘I’m coming back,’ and he’s like, ‘That’s the best decision.’ And I was just so excited. It felt like the biggest weight off my shoulders.”
After committing to return to LSU, the next step for Weeks was to get others to join him. He had already helped convince Kiffin to spurn Ole Miss for LSU, “I did my part,” Weeks said.
He and Kiffin just needed to rebuild the roster around them. Multiple starters had either run out of eligibility or were heading to the NFL, and 34 players eventually left the program and entered the transfer portal.
While Kiffin and his staff were landing visits and shaping the roster, Weeks made his pitch to transfers as to why they should come to LSU.
“I was going from Supperclub to Stab's for 14 straight days,” Weeks said, referencing the two well-known Baton Rouge restaurants. “I had to tell them to quit cooking my steak in butter. I was eating steak every single night.”
One of his responsibilities as a recruiter was to understand the character and makeup of each transfer during their visit before relaying his thoughts to the coaching staff.
“Just getting to meet the guys and understanding what they're about … really learning who they are before they get on campus,” Weeks said, “so then I can go back to the coaches and be like, ‘Yeah, this is a dude that we really need to go after. Or maybe this is a guy who, if he wants to come, tell him to come. If not, we'll be all right.’ ”
The winter following his sophomore season, he and then-quarterback Garrett Nussmeier led the recruiting charge as LSU got aggressive in the transfer portal. But with Nussmeier off to the NFL, Weeks was mostly alone in January as LSU was conducting visits with transfers.
His capabilities as a recruiter stood out to Boise State transfer Ty Benefield and Colorado transfer Jordan Seaton. Benefield was one of the top safeties in the portal, while Seaton was the top offensive lineman to transfer this past winter.
“Right off the bat, meeting him, I was like ‘This is a good dude right here,” Benefield said. “… He didn’t have no pitch, he was just being himself, being real. And that’s the best pitch that you can have.”
Seaton met with Weeks, Arizona State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt and others on his visit to Baton Rouge. They went to both Supperclub and Stab's.
“We had dinner,” Seaton said. “And we were stuffing our faces (with) a free tab.”
Weeks has a lot riding on next season. His junior year didn’t go as planned, given the injury and LSU’s subpar 7-6 campaign. But now, he has his defensive coordinator back, is playing for a new coach on a strong roster he helped put together.
It's no wonder he’s so eager to return to the field.
“I’m looking forward to camp,” Weeks said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back out there at the end of spring.”