GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The Brothers Weeks of Watkinsville, Georgia, will all be together on the LSU football team this summer and possibly all playing this fall … and maybe at the same time.
“It’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be something different for all of us,” elder brother West Weeks, a senior linebacker for the Tigers, said after a spring practice session Thursday morning. “I think it’s going to be real cool. We’ve never played at the same time on the same team.”
West and Whit, also a linebacker who exploded onto the scene last season as a starter in his sophomore year, have played together at LSU since the 2023 season when Whit was a true freshman. Zach joins the Tigers this summer as a true freshman signee and also plays linebacker.
All three were stars at Oconee County High, where former LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger played before becoming LSU’s starter in 2012 and ’13.
West has been a key backup since 2022 at LSU in 32 games through three seasons. He made 15 tackles in five games last season around an injury. He could have played more, but coach Brian Kelly decided to hold him back for a redshirt. West transferred to LSU following the 2021 season from Virginia, where he started the season finale and played in 11 games.
Whit is the middle son and most famous. His play in the Tigers’ first two games off the bench last season along with an injury to veteran linebacker Harold Perkins that ended his season put Whit in the starting lineup for the final 11 games. And he took full advantage.
A first team All-SEC player by the Associated Press and the SEC coaches, Whit led LSU with 125 total tackles for No. 2 in the SEC and ninth nationally. But he broke his leg in the first half of LSU’s win over Baylor in the Texas Bowl and was held out of spring practice.
“He’s doing a lot better,” West said Thursday. “He just started running this week. He’s working his tail off every day in that rehab room. He’s in there from early in the morning to 1 o’clock basically every single day. I know I can’t wait to get him back out there, and I know he can’t wait to get back out there, too.”
Zach graduated from Oconee County early and reclassified for the 2025 LSU class so he could join his brothers on the same team at the same time for the first time. He will get to Baton Rouge at the end of May and will be enrolled in classes at LSU this summer.
“I can’t wait for him to get out here,” West said. “He’s going to have to live in the dorm for the first year. We won’t get a chance to live with him, but I’m sure he’ll be over at our house. It’s going to be different for me. Whit and I got to play together in high school. And then Whit’s senior year was Zach’s freshman year, so they were together, but never really got to play together. So, it’s definitely going to be something new for us.”
It will be Watkinsville boyhood all over again.
“I think it will feel like we were just in the backyard playing football again as kids,” West said. “Every single day we were out there playing.”
Only their new “backyard” will be 102,321-seat Tiger Stadium.
“So, I’m looking forward to that,” he said. “That will be real cool.”
When Zach decided to leave high school early for LSU, it meant West would leave LSU late to get the brothers together in purple and gold.
“The realization came about halfway through last year,” West said in a previous interview this spring. “I was like, ‘If Zach graduates early, and I come back, we really all three could play together.’ It played out, and God kind of set the path. And here we are. Going to all be here in the summer. This is going to be my first time ever playing with Zach.”
Whit can be hilarious and a free spirit, whereas West is more of the strong, silent type.
“I’d say Zach is the goof ball of us,” West said to the surprise of reporters who know Whit. “He’s the jokester of us all. More than Whit, yeah, he can make you laugh.”
But Zach could also end up being the best linebacker, big brother says.
“I mean just watching him, he’s a physical player,” West said. “He’s fast. He’s going to come in and get thrown into the fire. He’ll be able to step up, and I think be able to play.”
There will be competition among the Weeks trio, but likely little if any animosity.
West had no issues with his little brother Whit passing him on the depth chart and becoming a fan and media favorite last year.
“It was awesome, just seeing him have the season that he had last year,” West said.
WHIT WEEKS BROKE LEG IN TEXAS BOWL
West was also one of the first players to run from the sidelines to the field when Whit went down in pain against Baylor. When he saw how badly Whit was hurt with the broken leg, West threw his helmet in frustration.
Then West replaced Whit and finished with six tackles, including three solo stops.
“I can’t really even put it into words,” West said after the game. “Seeing my brother like that, it took a huge toll on me. And honestly, the only thing that got me back in the game was seeing my whole team rallying around him. That was special to me.”
So too will be this season.
Be the first to comment