More than 50 new faces invaded LSU’s football facility in January.
That’s just on the player side. With coaches and analysts, the number might fall in the triple digits. After 12 months together, a similar locker room turnover is destined to come.
The key is maximizing the 12 months together to produce a positive football season. That work has already started around the country including at LSU. Whit Weeks wears a purple “C” on his chest for the Tigers, so his responsibility is to cultivate culture even though he missed spring due to injury.
“It’s been a lot easier than I expected it to be,” Weeks said. “When you’re not out there with the guys, it’s kind of like, okay, they don’t really know what you’re about because I was out all spring…I was thinking it would be a lot harder to kind of become the captain of the team again and the leader of the team, but it happened naturally because I think the team saw the work that I put in and the way that I got about my business, and they respect that. That’s a huge factor in leadership. You have to have the respect of your guys, and you have to respect your guys.”
Weeks watched from the sidelines as Lane Kiffin conducted his first spring. More than 40 transfers help make up LSU’s roster. Nineteen more come from the high school ranks as freshmen.
TJ Dottery is on team No. 3 in his college football journey. He emerged as a leader for Ole Miss’s national semifinal team a season ago, and he’ll man the middle of LSU’s 2026 defense alongside Weeks.
“(Leadership) is natural for me so just continuing to be who I am,” Dottery said. “From my perspective, coming in, I didn’t do a lot of more vocal leading. Moreso leading by example just being who I am. Coming in early, trying to win every sprint, competing and pushing guys. I let that speak for itself for a while before I became vocal.”
Dottery did enough to earn a spot at SEC Media Days for his new team.
In this era, there is no such thing as a rebuild. With more than $40 million invested in KIffin’s first roster, the expectation is to win immediately. That starts with a primetime showdown with Clemson and continues through battles with Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and others.
It’s a gauntlet that figures to offer adversity. That’s when leadership has to show up.
“I think that (the players) all know that I’ll ride or die for any single one of them,” Weeks said. “The team comradery has just kind of come together like that. I think the most important factor that goes into that is spending time with each other outside the facility. We’re up there pretty much all. When you’re up there, there’s a different mindset. You’re there to work. It’s work when you’re up there, so you really create the bonds on a Friday. On a Saturday night when you’re hanging out with your boys. That’s really when you become a brotherhood, and I think this team has done that really well. We’ve spent intentional time with each other outside the football field.”
Dottery knows the challenge ahead. He’s had to fill his new teammates on Kiffin’s personality and practices. Some of them have to show him around town and to class.
As the senior linebacker points out, no one remains in last year’s circumstances. It’s about adapting to the new ones no matter how big the adjustment. Much of it has to be done without the coaches.
“It’s not easy to bring a lot of new guys in especially under a new head coach for the returning guys,” Dottery said. “So, it’s new for everybody. Everybody has something new. I think the leadership when we’re outside conditioning in that Louisiana heat, coaches are out there pushing it, but it’s a player-led team. Watching the guys come together, me Whit, Ty Benefield, Trey’Dez, a lot of the leaders take that next step to lead the team. Even if the coaches are out there we keep the same standards.”
