Two LSU football defenders earn preseason All-American honors
Weeks and Perkins both missed spring practice after each had an injury that required surgery in 2024. Perkins tore his ACL in week four and was out for the year. Weeks was carted off the field in LSU's bowl win after playing the entire regular season. Both recoveries progressed as expected, and the duo is making a strong impression during fall camp.
Weeks, a junior, is coming off a breakout campaign where he finished No. 2 among SEC linebackers in stops and pressures. With a strong year, Weeks will finish as one of the most productive linebackers in LSU history and compete for the Butkus Award.
Perkins' narrative is a little more complicated. He was a star situational pass rusher in 2022, but he struggled after moving to inside backer in 2023. It's been an up-and-down three years for Perkins as he enters his redshirt junior campaign. Perkins will play the STAR role in Blake Baker's defense this fall. By all accounts, he's more comfortable there. There's still some uncertainty about how Perkins will look in 2025, but his raw athletic ability was enough to earn him a spot on the All-American list.
Weeks and Perkins will take the field with LSU when the Tigers kickoff their season at Clemson on Aug. 30.
LSU football coach Brian Kelly on what the return of Harold Perkins and Whit Weeks means for LSU
"Presence is impactful, right? You see them, you feel them, you hear them. And so when somebody's not around in a room, you can kind of feel the temperature change a little bit. The temperature's a little bit different when those two guys are in the room," Kelly said at the start of fall camp.
"People talk about missing somebody. It's hard to replace great players, but it's even harder to replace great leaders. And those guys lead by example and make a huge difference," Kelly said.
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