In the lead-up to Saturday’s kickoff at Kentucky, the phones of LSU defenders lit up.
They each received a text message from star linebacker Whit Weeks, who didn’t make the trip because doctors feared a plane flight could set back the senior’s recovery from a lower-leg injury suffered in late September.
Weeks’ words of encouragement to his teammates — each one of them, one by one — were meaningful in their own way. But their phones couldn’t come with them onto the field as the Wildcats busted a 77-yard run on their first play from scrimmage.
They couldn’t reconnect with Weeks, their “alpha,” as LSU coach Lane Kiffin calls him, as Kentucky quarterback Kenny Minchey lined up for a two-point conversion pass in overtime that he improvised into a game-winning run.
“You just don’t replace Whit,” Kiffin said during his weekly Monday press conference, clarifying he didn’t mean to speak ill of Weeks’ replacement, Davhon Keys, who was the SEC’s second-leading tackler last season.
LSU had enough spare parts to reconstitute its defense after Weeks and safety Dashawn Spears were lost to injuries in back-to-back weeks, but it was clear in a 35-34 loss to Kentucky that the No. 22 Tigers are missing something intangible.
Not only is Weeks a capable blitzer and sideline-to-sideline tackler, but he’s also a charismatic leader who commands teammates’ attention.
“He’s different in-game, him and (defensive coordinator) Blake (Baker) have a really good relationship,” Kiffin said, “He’s one of the few players that, if he doesn’t like the calls, he’ll come over and tell you about it. And you just don’t replace that.”
LSU (4-2, 1-2 SEC) is doing its best to get by, but the challenge doesn’t get any easier this week if No. 16 Mississippi State has Kamario Taylor healthy. The sophomore quarterback, who is averaging 290 passing yards and another 32 rushing, just rested through a bye week after exiting the Bulldogs’ last game against Alabama.
Minchey, who isn’t quite as dynamic, just tossed for 246 yards and exploited a spread-out LSU defense to stroll into the end zone on a two-point conversion. The latter wasn’t the linebackers’ fault, because the Tigers’ front didn’t properly adjust its pass rush.
But Kiffin remains concerned about that position group, and LSU’s defense as a whole, because he knew Weeks’ injury would have ripple effects.
In the offseason, he looked up the points per game the Tigers allowed last year with and without Weeks, who missed half the season with a similar ankle injury. LSU surrendered 13 points per game in contests Weeks played in 2025, while the Tigers permitted just over 28 in the games where he was sidelined.
“I don’t like that I looked that up and then he got hurt,” Kiffin said with a chuckle. “That’s probably why I felt so much that day (after Texas A&M) about it.”
There are personal aspects to those feelings, because Kiffin knows how hard Weeks, a preseason first-team All-SEC pick, worked to put himself in position to shine after multiple injury-curtailed seasons. Weeks also happens to date Kiffin’s daughter, Landry.
Kiffin said he talked to Weeks for a half hour on Monday.
“He’s in a hard place,” Kiffin said. “Sometimes we always worry about how it impacts us and what’s going on with us, especially as the head coach. So I sat down just with him about, ‘What about you? Like, how are you doing?’”
The senior isn’t in a great place, but Kiffin remains hopeful Weeks and star tight end Trey’Dez Green will return at some point. Spears, another player Kiffin believes could have been an All-American, is out for the year with an ACL tear.
Green made the trip to Kentucky, on the sideline in sweats, because Kiffin said just having him around affects the team’s mood positively. Weeks is the same; he just can’t travel yet.
“The goal is to still win and get through (the injuries) and then hopefully get two of the three back at some point maybe,” Kiffin said. “If you break the (Kentucky) game down, you’re in a one-play game. You’re really in a one-yard game.”
If LSU’s offense scored with a 27-24 lead, a field goal wouldn’t have tied it in regulation. If the Tigers gained 1 more yard on a 9-yard pass from Sam Leavitt to Winston Watkins on third-and-10, the clock runs.
If LSU stopped Kentucky’s final two-minute drive, or held the Wildcats out of the end zone in overtime, the Tigers would have been hailed for their resilience rather than panned for a loss to a lesser football brand.
“Even with the injuries, and the punt return where we have them tackled and give them a 55-yard (touchdown), you’re still going to win,” Kiffin said. “That does show you, like I’ve told them all along, you have a chance to be a really good team.”
