LSU Football pulled out a 20-10 win over Florida on Saturday despite playing much of the game without arguably its best player on defense.
Whit Weeks was ejected three plays into the game for targeting. He led with the crown of his helmet and made contact with running back Jaden Baugh’s head when he was taking a carry. LSU head coach Brian Kelly gave his take on the call
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“I think when you become a runner, and you duck your head, that targeting is not what we’re looking for,” Kelly said. “This is not my call, but I think from a national standpoint, that’s the one area that I’ve always had a problem. When you become a runner, and you drop your head, then the crown is susceptible to hitting somebody as a runner. If he’s a receiver, if he’s defenseless, if any of those other things come up in targeting, I get it.”
Weeks remained on the sideline for the rest of the contest as an NCAA rule change for players ejected due to targeting allows him to do so. He was the second player to make contact with Baugh on the play, and despite the head contact being light, the officials confirmed the call via review.
“I just have a hard time with this one,” Kelly said. “I guess they watched it and he must have hit with the top of his head, the crown, and if you hit with the crown, then it meets targeting. So I understand that. I’m not here, I just philosophically have a hard time when a guy becomes a runner, and he ducks his head. That’s a difficult burden to put on a tackler.”
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: LSU coach Brian Kelly shares take on Whit Weeks’ targeting ejection
