LSU football linebacker Whit Weeks to return, play for Lane Kiffin

BATON ROUGE — In today's college football, head coaches have to recruit their current roster almost as much as those in the NCAA transfer portal and high school recruits.

New LSU football coach Lane Kiffin earned a big recruiting victory from inside the LSU facility on the first day of 2026. Star linebacker Whit Weeks announced on social media Thursday, Jan. 1 that he was returning to LSU to play his final year in college, forgoing an opportunity to enter his name in the 2026 NFL Draft.

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"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 said in his social media post. "All I want to do is ball in the purple and gold. See you in September."

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Weeks' junior season with the Tigers was a trying one as he missed four games with a broken ankle, the same ankle he dislocated in the 2024 Texas Bowl. Weeks sat out this year's Texas Bowl in which LSU lost to Houston on Dec. 27 in Houston.

At the time of his injury in the Ole Miss game, Weeks was leading LSU's defense in tackles. He was able to return and play sparingly in the final two games of the regular season. Weeks recorded a pair of tackles against Oklahoma in the season finale.

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He ended the season with 31 stops including one sack, three tackles-for-loss and a fumble recovery.

Weeks has a personal tie to his new head coach as he is dating Kiffin's daughter, Landry.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football linebacker Whit Weeks to return, play for Lane Kiffin