GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
ATLANTA – LSU, like many high profile college football programs across the country, spends a lot of time grooming, advising and coaching its players for interviews with the media.
Tommy Karam, a Distinguished Instructor in LSU’s Department of Marketing and the Flores MBA Program, has been coaching LSU football players for interviews since the 1980s. He’s one of the best in the business and is the director of LSU’s communication studio for media interviews. During player interviews each week during LSU football seasons, Karam is often standing near enough to hear and see his work.
A reporter can often tell when a player is coached well by Karam and others at LSU by the way he answers questions. Media coaches tend to like brief answers and to the point. Not too short, but not a lot of rambling either. The media coaches tend to like it when players speak well around issues, even if they often say very little.
And reporters notice when players are over-coached, too. They sound like they’re reciting memorized information, which are usually cliches.
Some players get really good at it, though, and it serves them and reporters well in the extremely media friendly NFL and after the NFL. Former Tigers Marcus Spears and Jacob Hester have become national media stars after their NFL playing careers ended.
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You can tell when a player is blossoming in interviews at LSU, because the LSU Sports Information Department tends to keep sending them to various media interview sessions during the season, which was the case with Spears and Hester. Former tight end Foster Moreau was at just about every media session in his last two seasons in 2017 and ’18, for example. He continues to interview very well with the New Orleans Saints.
Once at the end of an interview at LSU in 2018, some reporters congratulated Moreau for being invited to the prestigious Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, which is reserved for players who NFL officials are virtually certain will be drafted. He went in the fourth round to the Raiders in 2019.
“I’m very excited for the opportunity to showcase my abilities at the Senior Bowl,” Moreau said, then caught himself. “Oh, that wasn’t a question for an interview. You guys are just telling me congratulations. I went into media mode. Sorry about that.”
Then he want on to talk like a regular human.
Some players, like Moreau, do not need much media coaching, if any. Quarterback Joe Burrow was a natural on arrival at LSU as a junior in 2018 after transferring as a graduate from Ohio State, where he received some guidance. But his interviews were as effortless and stylish as his play as he went on to win the Heisman Trophy and the national championship for the Tigers in the 2019 season.
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Another born interviewee is LSU junior linebacker Whit Weeks, who put on a show on Monday at the SEC Media Days here in his home state. A native of Watkinsville, Georgia, that is an hour from Atlanta, surely has received some guidance from master Karam and LSU football sports information director Michael Bonnette. But he has been pretty much a natural since his freshman year in 2023.
THE BROTHERS WEEKS ALL TOGETHER THIS SEASON
The key to Weeks’ God-given talent at interviews is that he really enjoys it, as you can tell by his facial expressions and his exuberance while speaking. A reporter noticed this a few minutes into his interview on Monday and asked, “What keeps you so happy, energetic, enthusiastic? Do you just really appreciate the opportunity to play college football?”
It apparently was the question Weeks was waiting for.
“Every day, every day,” he said. “This was a dream of mine as a kid. I’m from Georgia, the great state of Georgia, so growing up I always knew how great LSU was. But I never really knew what LSU was about until I got down there.”
Then came the quote that has been one of the most repeated through the first three days here.
"I thank God every single day for allowing me to be an LSU Tiger. It is truly the honor of my lifetime to put on that purple and gold." @LSUfootball Whit Weeks endearing himself to the #LSU nation more and more each day. pic.twitter.com/xxIgiO15wN
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) July 14, 2025
“I thank God every single day for allowing me to be an LSU Tiger,” he said. “It’s the honor of my lifetime to put on that Purple and Gold and represent the great state of Louisiana and the great fans. It’s an honor that I don’t take lightly.”
That is clearly true. After playing mostly as a backup as a freshman in 2023, Weeks had probably the best all-around season by a linebacker in LSU history in 2024. His 125 tackles were second in the SEC and ninth in the nation. He added 10 stops for losses with 3.5 sacks, six quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, an interception and three batted down passes.
WHIT WEEKS SUFFERED PAINFUL INJURY IN TEXAS BOWL
Weeks missed spring practice after breaking his leg and dislocating his ankle against Baylor in the Texas Bowl, but he is expected to be at 100 percent when practice opens next month.
“I feel like since the start of June, I’ve really been able to get back to being my old self. I’m ready to roll, and I feel really good,” he said.
“Whit is our driver,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “He brings the passion, but passion without focus is irresponsible. He’s not that. He’s got incredible focus. He’s got incredible passion. It rubs off on our entire defense.”
Weeks praised the LSU fans.
“I know how passionate our fan base is, and I’d be doing them a disservice if I didn’t go out there every single day and give them 110 percent for them because I know how much they love us,” he said.
And he’s not even a local.
“It’s not hard to do,” he insisted. “It’s not hard to go out there and play passionate when you’re playing in front of the best fans in the world. And LSU’s fan base is second to none. Getting to play in front of them on Saturday nights in Death Valley, that’s a special moment. Getting to play in front of my classmates in Death Valley and in front of 102,000 fans who are screaming the whole time, it’s the best feeling in the world.”
Count on seeing and hearing Whit Weeks a lot this season … on a television or website near you.
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