Josiah Trotter is a linebacker and 2026 NFL Draft prospect who spent his final collegiate season with the Missouri Tigers after beginning his career with the West Virginia Mountaineers. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Trotter attended St. Joseph's Preparatory School, where he was a three-star recruit rated a four-star by ESPN and helped the program win two PIAA Class 6A State Championships. He comes from one of football's most accomplished linebacker families: his father, Jeremiah Trotter Sr., is a four-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time All-Pro who spent 11 NFL seasons and was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame; his older brother, Jeremiah Jr., was a back-to-back All-American at Clemson and a fifth-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024. Trotter signed with West Virginia but suffered a torn ACL during spring practices in 2023 and never appeared in a game that season. He returned healthy in 2024 and became an immediate starter, posting 92 tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack, and an interception to earn Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-America honors. He transferred to Missouri ahead of the 2025 season and led the Tigers with 84 tackles while adding 13 tackles for loss, two sacks, and a pass defended, helping anchor a defense that ranked 10th nationally. He declared early for the 2026 draft after just two seasons as a collegiate starter.
Standing 6-foot-2 and 237 pounds, Trotter is known for rare short-area explosion and burst downhill, violent hands that generate immediate separation at the point of attack, outstanding diagnostic speed that allows him to read run concepts and trigger into gaps faster than blockers can reach him, and a throwback physicality that delivers contact through ball carriers rather than simply wrapping up. NFL evaluators project him as a two-down run-stuffing inside linebacker best suited to an odd front where his short-area dominance and gap control can be maximized, with coverage limitations in man and zone that will keep him off the field in obvious passing situations early in his career, but a competitive toughness and developmental trajectory that position him as a legitimate Day 2 target with starter upside against the run in the right defensive system.
