Whit Weeks has attended many Georgia football games. He was at Sanford Stadium for noisy environments including the 2019 game against Notre Dame and the national championship celebration in January.
But the loudest stadium atmosphere involving the Oconee County senior linebacker was at Baton Rouge for the LSU-Alabama game earlier this month. LSU, then ranked at No. 10, put then-No. 6 Alabama into overtime and won by a two-point conversion to give the Tigers their seventh win in Brian Kelly’s first season at the helm.
Weeks stormed the field along with tens of thousands of adoring Tiger fans.
“Me and my buddies all got separated and it took us a while to find each other because there were so many people down there,” Weeks said. “There was nothing like it. It was the loudest game I’ve ever heard.”
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The three-star linebacker signed to Kelly and the Tigers in July, opting to call home Baton Rouge over Georgia and Oklahoma. All three programs were comparable on the field — two won a national championship in the last four years and the other made four college football playoff appearances.
But it was the people who recognized LSU for Weeks.
“Once they started recruiting me, I could just tell they were the right people to be with,” Weeks said. “Growing up 15 minutes from Athens, I always wanted to spread my wings and start my life somewhere far from home. It’s a great opportunity to make a name for myself. People are real.”
Whit plans to attend the SEC championship with his family to see the Tigers and his brother West, who is a second linebacker for LSU.
While Georgia appears to be a suspension for the CFP, an LSU win could be enough to send the Tigers to their first New Year’s Six Bowl since winning the national championship in 2019. The Oconee County senior believes LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels needs to just keep doing “his thing” to ease the excitement.
What was LSU’s secret to winning the SEC West and posting a 10-win season?
“You have to start with the boss — Coach Kelly,” Weeks said. “They got off to a rocky start against FSU and you could tell they just didn’t have much of an identity about them. Coming down the track now, you can see that every player has fully bought into the system. They proved it works. Wait for Coach Kelly to get some recruiting classes and then see what the Tigers are all about.
According to 247Sports, LSU currently has the No. 4 recruiting class in the country, just behind Georgia and Notre Dame. There are 25 commits and Weeks is one of 14 defensive commits due to be signed on National Signing Day in a few weeks.
McClain Baxley is a recruiting reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @mcclainbaxley. Sign up today to support local journalism.