The Position LSU Can Afford to Rotate More Than Anyone Thinks

LSU's defense has plenty of impressive names on its depth chart heading into the fall, fromTy Benefield at safety to Deuce Geralds on the defensive line. But tucked behind the biggest of preseason headlines is a linebacker room that might be the deepest group on the entire roster.

Whit Weeks and TJ Dottery aren't the only two bodies filling the depth chart. They're three players who each finished among the SEC's most productive tacklers within the last two seasons, giving Blake Baker a luxury few defensive coordinators enjoy.

That luxury changes how LSU can approach snap counts in 2026. Instead of grinding its two workhorses into the ground, the Tigers can rotate real difference-makers without any drop-off in production.

The Players Who Makes It Possible

Davhon Keys enters his junior year having led the Tigers with 92 tackles last season, a number that would headline most SEC rosters. But at LSU, he'll be the third linebacker on the depth chart.

Dottery arrived from Ole Miss having been the only player with more tackles than Keys did in the SEC last season.

And if you flash back one more season, Weeks was the SEC's second-highest tackler.

Now, three of the SEC's four leading tacklers in the last two seasons share the same linebacker room.

It's only two out of the 16 SEC teams that have one of the two leading tacklers each season, with most being lucky to have one proven every-down linebacker, let alone three who've each led a conference in tackles within recent memory.

But behind the veteran trio, Tylen Singleton gives Baker a fourth linebacker option who's already proven he belongs on the field. Singleton tallied a career-best 9 tackles and a tackle for loss in his first career start against Houston in the Texas Bowl, stepping in later in LSU's season when Weeks' injury thinned the room.

Singleton's continued growth at LSU alongside the returning starters gives this group the makings of a truly deep position on Baker's defense.

But there's more. Sophomore Charles Ross II will be a problem at LSU, maybe not in 2026, but definitely in the future. Ross was a consensus 4-star prospect who ranked as high as No. 2 nationally at his position by 247Sports.

The 6-foot-1, 218-pound linebacker is also a track star, clocking at 10.36 in the 100 meters as a senior in high school.

This kind of depth is rare.

A Rotational Scheme Like No Other

LSU Tigers Football: Defensive coordinator Blake Baker helping Brian Kelly's defense in SEC play. — Courtesy of LSU Football.

The nickel and dime packages LSU leans on should only give fans hope for the need or rotating linebackers rather than fear of it. Baker has always done this.

His scheme features five defensive backs, including DJ Pickett, Ty Benefield, PJ Woodland, Tamarcus Cooley and Dashawn Spears, who are expected to share the field often. That alignment naturally pulls a linebacker off the field on passing downs.

That leaves two on the field in those sets.

What It Looked Like This Spring

LSU Tigers Football: Lane Kiffin. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Football.

Spring practices were simply a showcase for how naturally the linebackers can share without losing a step.

Keys and Dottery were running with the ones, as Weeks was still battling back from the ankle injury that sidelined him in 2025.

Keys used his spring media availability to reflect on a breakout sophomore campaign, one where he played a pivotal role in LSU's defense while leading the team in tackles. That kind of proven production doesn't usually get bumped down a depth chart, but Keys has embraced whatever role he needs to make sure his team is at its best.

With Weeks expected back at full strength by fall camp, LSU won't need to lean on any single linebacker to carry the load. The linebacker room has two senior players ready to headline college football's 2026 season.

And they will, but with some help to keep them sharp and competitive. That kind of depth that turns a group of players into a unit built for the longest SEC season yet.

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