Linebacker Whit Weeks rang in the new year Thursday as the latest LSU star to share plans to return for another season in Baton Rouge.
Weeks joined running back Harlem Berry (St. Martin’s Episcopal) and safety Dashawn Spears (Denham Springs) as major roster-retention wins during the past 24 hours for the Tigers’ new-look staff under coach Lane Kiffin.
“College is too much fun to leave, and there is no better place in the country to be right now than Baton Rouge, Louisiana,” Weeks posted via Instagram with a photograph of his No. 40 jersey and captain’s patch. “All I want to do is ball in the purple and gold. See you in September.”
The 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker emerged as a sophomore star in the middle of the defense in 2024 with a team-high 125 tackles, including 10 for loss and 3.5 sacks.
Injuries hampered much of his junior season this fall, including sidelining him most of the second half of the schedule.
He finished with 31 tackles, including three for loss and a sack, and forced a fumble with his biggest performance coming Sept. 27 in Oxford, Miss., when he wrapped up 10 tackles, including one behind the line, and forced a fumble against Kiffin and the Rebels before having to exit early.
Berry had been another priority for the Tigers’ new staff to keep in Baton Rouge amid coaching shuffles around the SEC that saw his position coach Frank Wilson III leave for Ole Miss and another notable running backs coach and recruiter Jabbar Juluke, Berry’s uncle, on the move from Florida to Texas.
Multiple local outlets, led by 104.5 ESPN in Baton Rouge, reported Wednesday that the 5-foot-11, 190-pound athlete had decided to remain with the program for his sophomore season.
Berry, the state’s No. 1 prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, played in 13 games as a freshman, including six starts, and carried 104 times for 491 yards and two touchdowns.
CBS Sports national reporter Matt Zenitz shared Thursday afternoon that Spears intended to enter the transfer portal this week, according to his agents, but then just over three hours later than the local product had changed course on that plan.
“After dialogue the last couple hours with LSU, Tigers safety Dashawn Spears has decided to remain at LSU instead of transferring,” Zenitz shared via Twitter, citing another conversation with agents. “Big win for LSU. the former blue-chip recruit tallied 29 tackles and two interceptions this year.”
The former record-setting Denham Springs ballhawk has played in 13 games each of his first two seasons in college, but saw both his opportunities on defense and his effectiveness take notable leaps this fall.
Spears recorded a handful more total tackles and solo stops as a sophomore, as well as the first three tackles for loss, the first sack and first two interceptions of his career and a pivotal pick-six in a September defeat of Florida.
The 6-foot-3, 208-pound safety finished the season as the Tigers’ second-highest graded defender overall, only slightly behind veteran corner Mansoor Delane, and the highest-graded run defender and tackler.
LSU’s roster, like its staff, is expected to undergo a notable makeover this offseason — not uncommon in the modern landscape of college athletics and particularly for a program with a new coach.
But Kiffin and company appear to be successfully maintaining a core of talented and experienced leaders and playmakers to build around.
The winter transfer portal officially opens Friday for 15 days with Kiffin saying even from his introductory press conference Dec. 1 that he intended to be both active and effective adding key veteran pieces through that route.
