Brian Kelly reveals LSU's defensive plans for Harold Perkins, Whit Weeks

LSU sophomore linebacker Whit Weeks has been making things hard on opposing offenses this season. Tied with Harold Perkins for a team leading 12 tackles along with 1.5 tackles for loss as a disruptive force on the Tigers’ defense.

But he’s also made things hard for LSU’s coaching staff, with head coach Brian Kelly saying that Weeks can’t be in a platoon situation as a player that’s hard to take off the field. Making things challenging regarding the defensive personnel of the Tigers.

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This offseason the position Perkins would play as LSU’s star defensive player was a major topic of conversation given his versatility and the team’s desire to get the most out of him. A situation that the emergence of Weeks has thrown a wrench into and that Kelly addressed on Thursday.

“Look, they all have to play, right?” Kelly asked. “So we have to be able to be creative with our defensive structure and Blake [Baker] understands that, and that’s a good thing for us. I think we understand that we’ve got some position flexibility.”

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Both Perkins and Weeks are tremendous athletes and downhill forces on defense that can serve as respective nightmares for offensive coordinators if utilized properly. But above everything, defensive coordinator Blake Baker is now tasked with taking advantage of their versatility and putting them both in a position to succeed together for the Tigers.

“Whit’s played some Mike linebacker, Harold’s played Will, he’s played some Sam, so we’ve got great flexibility with both those guys,” Kelly explained. “So we just feel like it’s important that the guys that are playing their best get on the field, so I think that kind of addresses the comments that I made relative to keeping him on the field.”

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“Of course he’s not gonna play every single play,” Kelly said about Weeks. “But I think making sure that we have the position flexibility and the utilization of not being afraid to move people around to get your best players on the field.”

LSU’s dilemma is a good problem to have in the grand scheme of things, with no coach ever complaining about having too many players to put on the field at once. But now they’ll look to optimize their star and rising star on defense moving forward, particularly this weekend in a marquee matchup against South Carolina to kick off their SEC schedule.