By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
When LSU lost linebacker and team captain Whit Weeks for several weeks with a broken leg against Texas A&M on Sept. 26, more vanished from the Tigers’ defense than one of its best players and leaders.
Weeks, a senior who was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference player in 2024, was the Tigers’ communication conduit to defensive coordinator Blake Baker because he wore the green dot on his helmet that represents in-helmet radio communication to the sideline and coaches’ box in the pressbox. It was Weeks who relayed the next defensive formation to his teammates and gave other information.
Sam Leavitt wasted no time in making the call on his hamstring status: https://t.co/ccMp1xvYHZ
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 7, 2026
The green dot transferred to linebacker TJ Dottery after Weeks’ injury. And it has been a seamless transition since Dottery wore the dot in the 2025 season at Ole Miss when he played for head coach Lane Kiffin and defensive coordinator Pete Golding there. And it didn’t slow him down. Dottery, a senior from Catholic High in Montgomery, Alabama, led the Southeastern Conference in 2025 in tackles with 98, including 5.5 for loss with 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.
Dottery leads LSU this season with 30 tackles and has four quarterback hurries, three pass breakups and two forced fumbles. He had four tackles in the Tigers’ 63-14 win over McNeese State last week in limited play as Kiffin took his starters out early. Dottery is expected to be wearing the green dot when No. 10 LSU (4-1, 1-1 SEC) plays at No. 25 Kentucky (4-1, 2-1 SEC) on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN).
“It’s a little bit more communication, but it hasn’t been anything to slow me down,” Dottery said Tuesday.
At times at Ole Miss, though, it could get complicated under Golding, who replaced Kiffin as head coach at Ole Miss after the 2025 regular season when Kiffin left to take the LSU job and left Ole Miss in the playoffs.
“Pete is a great coach,” Kiffin said. “He has a lot of information in his system, so he is amazing. He gave so much information to TJ. At times, it was great because TJ could tell everybody else what to do. But at the same time, it’s hard to play fast when you get that. So coming here, he said he thought that it helped not getting so much information and being able just to play faster.”
So, Dottery could have the yellow light since he has the green dot back. But he said LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s system is simpler, Baker is a former linebacker and still coaches the linebackers.
“Blake’s knowledge for the game and his knowledge for the position as well, since I play linebacker – it’s been awesome,” Dottery said.
And Dottery has help on the field.
“It’s been good having it back again,” he said. “I don’t feel like it has slowed md down at all, honestly, especially in this defense, and the guys who I have around me who know their assignments.”
Sophomore Davhon Keys has replaced Weeks at linebacker and has experience doing that, finishing second in the SEC with 92 tackles last year as he started five games in place of an injured Weeks in 2025.
“His instincts of the game and knowledge of the pre-snap recognition of formations and knowing what’s coming and his communication is awesome,” Dottery said.
Senior Ty Benefield, a Boise State transfer who moved from safety to the star (linebacker/defensive back combination) position with the injury to Dashawn Spears at Ole Miss, has also helped Dottery.
“Ty, man, is one heck of an athlete, who can fly around,” Dottery said. “So, just getting him going is awesome.”
Kiffin hasn’t noticed Dottery’s game slowing under the green dot.
“It seemed to work fine,” he said. “We didn’t discuss it after the (McNeese) game because it seemed like there were no problems with it. That’s not necessarily a permanent thing with TJ.”
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