Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
By Hunt Palmer
ATLANTA—Harold Perkins got company in January.
Three months after the All-American linebacker tore his ACL against UCLA, LSU’s other All-Conference linebacker broke his leg.
Whit Weeks joined Perkins in the training room an on the rehabilitation field. They worked. They laughed. They cried.
“And really, this offseason, him rehabbing and me rehabbing, when the days look long for me, he was always the guy that I could lean on,” Weeks said. “He would push me on days when I could hardly even walk. He was right there beside me. ‘Hey, keep your head up, it’s going to get better.’”
The better times have come for both stars.
In June, both worked on a bit of a ‘pitch count’. As of July 1, the governors were stripped away, and both are flying around the field again in Baton Rouge.
Perkins has amassed 13 sacks and 27.5 tackles for loss as a Tiger. He was an All-SEC player as a freshman and a second teamer as a sophomore. Weeks finished second in the SEC in stops last year.
In terms of athleticism, experience and production, they may form the SEC’s best linebacker duo.
I cannot wait to be out there playing with Harold,” Weeks said. “He’s the best defensive college football player in the world. Being able to play with him makes it easy to be a good football player because you know he’s going to be out there making plays, and you want to be out there making lays with him.”
Weeks and Perkins will form the backbone of defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s second LSU defense. Last season, Baker’s first, saw an improvement on the defensive side of the ball.
It had to.
In 2023, LSU fielded its worst defense in program history. The Tigers finished 106th in the country in total defense. Last year, that improved by 50 yards per game to 61st nationally. More improvement is necessary if the Tigers plan on playing significant games in December.
“Look, I’ve been the head football coach at LSU, and I know that we have not played the kind of defense necessary to win a national championship,” head coach Brian Kelly said. “I think we put a roster together in this offseason, along with young players that have taken lumps along the way as they’ve developed, and given Blake now the tools to play championship level defense.”
LSU may start six or seven transfers on defense in the season opener. Weeks and Perkins, with oversight from Baker, will have to help blend the talented newcomers into a new defense.
“At the end of the day, it’s not just me and Harold out there,” Weeks said. “We’ve got me, him and nine other dudes who I think are all incredible football players. It’s not just me and him out there this year. We’ve got, from the top to the bottom, safeties, cornerbacks, linebackers, outside linebackers, d-tackles. I think we have a great unit this year.”
Kelly spoke to reporters in Atlanta on Monday and reenforced his belief in Baker’s ability to field an elite unit in Baton Rouge. Baker’s players share that belief.
“I think Coach Baker is the best coach in college football,” Weeks said. “I love that dude to death. I’ve said this many times before. The energy that he brings every day, it’s hard to go into that building and not be on 100 every day, because you know that he’s going to be on 100 at all times. We love playing for him. There’s nobody else in the country that we’d want to play for.”
Now healthy, Weeks and Perkins will man the middle of the Tiger defense. Weeks attacking ball carriers with that trademark exuberance. Perkins causing havoc on the edge with his speed and quickness.
For the third consecutive offseason, Perkins’s role has been discussed widely.
Should he play the edge? Should he be in coverage more? Should he stay in the middle of the field?
Baker has spent countless hours cultivating Perkins’ ideal deployment. Weeks sees it a little more simply.
“Just let Harold be Harold,” Weeks said. “I mean, that dude’s a superstar, so if you just let him be him, he’s going to go make every single play in the world.”
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