MORGANTOWN — Plenty of young football players get advice on the game from their fathers. And for many of them, that advice might come with an eye roll from the kid, subjected to another story of Dad’s high school days.
West Virginia University linebacker Josiah Trotter doesn’t roll his eyes. He takes notes. His dad has a Pro Bowl NFL pedigree.
Growing up, Josiah Trotter and his brother looked at their dad as simply their dad. Everybody else looked at him as former All-Pro Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter. And while Josiah Trotter said his dad tries not to get in the way of his WVU coaches, he still has been able to offer some important lessons on how to play the game.
“As you grow older, you realize it’s great to have that,” Trotter said. “It’s great to have that father figure in life, especially one that played in the NFL to give you key points – how to watch film, how to prepare and how to carry yourself as an athlete, a man and a football player.”
Jeremiah Trotter spent 12 seasons in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was a four-time Pro Bowler, a first-team All-Pro in 2000 and a second-team All-Pro in 2001. Both his sons, Josiah and Jeremiah Jr., have followed in his footsteps. Jeremiah Jr. played football at Clemson and was a 2024 fifth-round draft pick of the Eagles. Josiah was a four-star linebacker prospect that was considered one of the top 10 overall college prospects in Pennsylvania as a high school senior.
Yet in the pee-wee football days, the Trotter sons didn’t see their father as a superstar pro football player, though that connection got clearer as they matured.
“When we were younger, we just looked at him as Dad,” Trotter said. “When you get older, you start to realize and everything like that.”
The younger Trotter’s introduction into college football was delayed in some ways. A knee injury in spring practice left him sidelined for the 2023 season, taking a redshirt. Yet he quickly made an impact on WVU’s defense when he got healthy.
Trotter has started 10 of WVU’s 11 games this season at linebacker. He is second on the team in total tackles (84) and quarterback hurries (four) while adding four tackles for loss, assisting on a sack, intercepting one pass and breaking up two more.
The West Virginia defense as a whole has seen its struggles this year in communication and giving up big plays. Trotter said that, while he talks with his dad a lot, much of the conversation focuses on what he can do to be a better player rather than the Mountaineer defense as a whole.
“When we talk, we just talk about ball,” he said. “Just giving me key points and stuff to help me, to support my game, things I need to continue to get better at. Everything with (the defense’s struggles), he just leaves to the coaches.”
Are there times Trotter admits his dad gets repetitive in his advice? Sure, but he also realizes that when his dad says something multiple times, he’s making a point about how important it is.
“The knowledge he has, all you can do is just sit back and listen and use it to grow,” Trotter said. “At the end of the day, I’m not perfect, so I know that what he has to tell me, he’s only going to help me get better.
“I’m trying to get where he was,” he added.
— Story by Derek Redd
