LSU’s linebacker room looks like the kind of problem every defensive coordinator wants. Blake Baker has three proven tacklers in the same room, and that gives the Tigers a chance to keep bodies fresh without sacrificing production.
Whit Weeks and TJ Dottery are the names most people will circle first, but Davhon Keys belongs in that conversation too. He led LSU with 92 tackles last season, a number that would stand out almost anywhere in the SEC. At LSU, though, that production still leaves him third on the depth chart.
That’s the strange luxury here: three linebackers who have all been among the SEC’s most productive tacklers over the last two seasons. Dottery transferred in from Ole Miss after finishing with more tackles than Keys in the SEC last season, while Weeks was the SEC’s second-highest tackler one year earlier. Put together, LSU now has three of the SEC’s four leading tacklers from the last two seasons in one room.
That kind of depth is rare. Only two of the 16 SEC teams have had one of the conference’s two leading tacklers in each of the last two seasons, which makes LSU’s situation even more striking.
Most teams would be thrilled to have one every-down linebacker they can trust. LSU has three who have already done it at a high level.
And there’s another layer behind them. Tylen Singleton showed enough to make himself part of the conversation, too. In his first career start against Houston in the Texas Bowl, he posted a career-best nine tackles and a tackle for loss after stepping in when Weeks’ injury thinned the group late in the season.
That kind of performance matters because it gives Baker another real option, not just a warm body for depth. If Singleton keeps trending up, LSU can keep rolling out linebackers who can actually hold up on the field.
There’s also future talent waiting in the wings. Sophomore Charles Ross II is the kind of player LSU can afford to develop patiently.
A consensus four-star prospect, he was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally at his position by 247Sports. The 6-foot-1, 218-pound linebacker also brings track speed, having run 10.36 in the 100 meters as a senior in high school.
Baker’s scheme helps make all of this work. LSU leans heavily on nickel and dime looks, using five defensive backs - DJ Pickett, Ty Benefield, PJ Woodland, Tamarcus Cooley and Dashawn Spears - and that naturally trims linebacker snaps on passing downs.
In other words, rotation isn’t a backup plan here. It’s part of the design.
Spring practices offered a glimpse of how that can function. Keys and Dottery were working with the first group while Weeks was still recovering from the ankle injury that sidelined him in 2025. Keys, coming off his breakout sophomore season, used his spring media availability to talk about the role he played in LSU’s defense and the team-leading tackle total that came with it.
That’s the kind of production most players would expect to lock down a bigger role. At LSU, it still fits into a deeper picture. Weeks is expected back at full strength by fall camp, and the Tigers won’t need to ask any one linebacker to carry the whole load.
Instead, they can lean on a room with two senior players ready to headline college football’s 2026 season, plus help behind them to keep the whole group sharp. For LSU, that’s not just depth. That’s a unit built to survive the grind.
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LSUs Playoff Hype May Hinge On One Unsettled Preseason Question
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The opener against Clemson will offer an early measuring stick, but the bigger question hanging over Baton Rouge is how quickly the new pieces can settle in around quarterback Sam Leavitt and the rest of the offense. LSU has the look of a team built to chase a long postseason run, yet the difference between being merely intriguing and truly dangerous may come down to how one unsettled preseason issue gets answered once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]