Jeremiah Trotter Jr. NFL Draft Profile
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Scouting Report: Clemson, Linebacker
2023 NFL Draft Measurements
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. 40-Yard Dash: 4.59 (estimate)
6’0″ / 230 lbs.
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Draft Profile
The son of a four-time Pro Bowler, who spent 12 seasons in the NFL, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. has been blazing his own path to potential NFL stardom at Clemson. Prior to joining the Tigers, Trotter played for St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Pennsylvania. He committed to Clemson during his junior season and then helped his team to back-to-back 6A state championships. Jeremiah was tabbed as a 5-star recruit by all major outlets and ranked as high as #7 overall by ESPN.com.
Trotter would only play 59 defensive snaps during his freshman year but still managed to rack up 22 tackles. He would earn a starting spot heading into 2022 and rewarded the Clemson coaching staff with his efforts. Jeremiah would rack up a team-leading 89 tackles (including 50 solos), along with 13.5 tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks. His play earned him a second-team All-American nomination. In fact, he holds the record at Clemson for fewest snaps played a season prior to making an All-American team.
This created a ton of buzz around Trotter and his potential to follow in his father’s footsteps. Trotter was the second highest graded returning inside linebacker by PFF. He would also find his name in the first round of many (way too early) 2024 NFL mock drafts. So, let’s take a deeper look at Jeremiah and see what makes him such an intriguing prospect.
Strengths
Reaction
The first thing that caught my attention with Trotter, was how quickly he was able to diagnose a play after the snap. This allowed him to be able to plug holes and blow-up plays before they really got a chance to develop. Jeremiah benefitted from this in his coverage as well. Sniffing out screens and quickly breaking on passes to force incompletions was a common theme watching him play.
Motor
Trotter is a true sideline-to-sideline player, with a nose for the football. If the ball carrier is tackled within 10 or so yards of the original line of scrimmage, even if he wasn’t the one that made the tackle, there’s a good chance that he’s still around the pile.
Comfortable in Coverage
While primarily used in zone coverage, I do believe that Jeremiah has the athletic ability to handle man coverage against most tight ends and some running backs (quicker, shiftier RBs would be trouble). In zone, he was smooth when dropping back into his area of responsibility. Trotter also showed a good ability for reading the quarterback’s eyes and quickly breaking on the ball.
Weaknesses
Pursuit
My biggest mark against Jeremiah is his pursuit of the ball. As I mentioned earlier, his reaction time to read a play is fantastic. While it allows him the ability to make plays quickly, he can get too aggressive at times. This leads to over pursuing the ball carrier, allowing them cutback opportunities. You can also see him taking poor pursuit angles, preventing him from catching the ball carrier. This is something that I noticed in his 2022 film and have still seen in 2023. Still, I think that this is something that can be helped with some proper coaching.
Final Thoughts on Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Scouting Report
Trotter has all the tools that an NFL team would be looking for, solid size, with good speed, balance, and agility. He also has the strength to be able to hold his own against bigger offensive linemen. Trotter can make an impact in both run support and rushing the passer, although he’s better when using his speed rather than trying to overpower linemen. Against the run, he gets downhill quickly and can bring some pop to the ball carrier when making a tackle. Overall, Jeremiah is a player who should be able to come into a team and make an immediate impact.
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. NFL Comparison
Patrick Queen – LB / Baltimore Ravens
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Draft Stock
Looking at Jeremiah’s draft stock according to NFL Mock Draft Database, he seems to have fallen off since the start of the season. When I looked at Trotter during the spring, I graded him out with the likes of Joe Alt, Olu Fashanu, and Caleb Williams with a true first-round grade. I got a little worried after his game against Duke when he just didn’t look right. However, after watching a couple of more recent games, I’m feeling better that he was just dealing with something in that game. I still would tab Trotter as a first-rounder.
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Scouting Report Analyst – Brandon Claburn