Brian Kelly doubles down on criticism of Whit Weeks targeting ejection

Coming out of the Florida–LSU game, Tigers coach Brian Kelly was thrilled to get the win. He was less thrilled about how he got there, particularly having to play without star linebacker Whit Weeks.

Weeks was ejected early in the contest against the Gators for a hit on receiver Vernell Brown III. It appeared to be a good football play, but Weeks helmet did ultimately make contact with Brown’s as the latter ducked down.

For his part, Kelly wants to see hits like the one Whit Weeks made put into a separate category of targeting. That type shouldn’t merit an ejection, he said.

“Whit’s situation is kind of what I talked about, right?” Kelly told reporters Monday. “And had a conversation. That’s something that we’re going to have to deal with after the season when it comes to rules and things of that nature.

“We all know, I think we all understand what targeting looks like. But trying to make a play on a runner and he ducks his head and you make a tackle, to throw a guy out of the game for that, obviously you’ve heard my feelings about it and I think there’s a lot of people that agree.”

The good news for the Tigers is that because the ejection happened in the first quarter against the Gators, Whit Weeks won’t have to miss any further time. He’s served it.

As to what can be done about targeting, some reporters offered a solution of sorts to Kelly. Why not treat targeting as two-tiered foul, like flagrant ones and twos in the NBA?

“Stop making sense,” Kelly said with a grin. “I just, I feel the same way. Here’s what happens. When that argument is made, unfortunately on the other end, they immediately say, ‘Well targeting is down. Concussions are down.’

“But a guy sat out a game and I don’t know how to coach him differently. Like I don’t know what to tell him to do differently. And you’re going to throw him out of the game. That makes no sense to me. So I think common sense at some time has got to get involved in targeting. And if common sense gets involved, maybe we’ll get an answer.”

Whit Weeks is a team leader for LSU. The game very well could have gone differently if not for a horribly off night from Florida quarterback DJ Lagway.

Instead, the Tigers win and get to talk about the targeting call without the worry of what could have been. Kelly plans to address it once more in the offseason with the powers that be. But they’ve heard his story before.

“This is a story that I’ll talk to you off the record, but I have been very vocal on this issue,” Kelly said. “To the point where they know where I stand. And so, I think this is really a discussion that’s going to have to take place after the season when, I’m going to say it again, like-minded people that have common sense look at it and go, ‘OK, that’s not really what targeting is.'”