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Jeremiah Trotter Jr. 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Clemson LB

Originally posted on The 33rd Team | By Greg Cosell | Last updated 4/11/24

The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.

Here's our report on Jeremiah Trotter.

Jeremiah Trotter's 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS

Height: 6-foot
Weight: 228
40-yard dash: DNP
10-yard split: DNP
20-yard shuttle: 4.4
Vertical jump: DNP
Broad jump: DNP
Arm length: 31 1/2"

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

STRENGTHS

Plays bigger than his size with suddenness, twitch and explosiveness. Played fast and furious with control.
Good feel for key and diagnose in the run game, navigating the box cleanly, then triggering with burst to the ball.
Excellent short-area quickness and burst as a run defender in the box. Eluded blocks without losing gap integrity.
Given lack of desired length, thrived and made plays in the run game with quickness, balance and body control.
Run game snaps in which used arm extension with some force to stack and shed OL blocks to find the ball.
Inside out, sideline-to-sideline play speed and range. An efficient mover who played fast and covered the ground easily.
Strong blitzer with downhill velocity and burst and strength to power conversion. Lateral quickness to beat OL.
Comfortable dropping into zone coverage. Easy movement with awareness of routes and reaction quickness.
2023 – Quick to attack downhill when he saw double teams in the run game. Attacked gaps with calculated control.
Consistently showed an excellent feel for keeping himself clean in the box, working through traffic to find the ball.
Again showed lateral quickness as inside blitzer, beating running backs with shake moves more than power.
Lateral quickness in confined space showed up. Beat OL blocks with quickness without losing gap integrity.
Showed the body control to bend and contort his body to avoid blockers and get himself in a position to tackle.
Played fast with a plus range outside the box. See ball get ball element to his game with inside-out closing burst.
Excellent blitzer. High-level athleticism, beating running backs with lateral quickness, body control and burst.
Showed excellent awareness in underneath zone coverage, reading and feeling routes and reading the QB's eyes.

WEAKNESSES

2023 – Run game snaps in which he was swallowed up by climbing OL and, at times, tight ends. Lack of size was a factor.
There will be teams that see him as too small for stacked LB. The critical factors template for specific positions.
Not an explosive, high-level athlete. Not sudden or twitchy. Much more of a measured and controlled mover.
Run-game snaps in which he looked a little stiff and segmented when he had to re-direct and change direction.
At times in underneath zone coverage showed some hip stiffness re: lateral transition and change of direction.
There were pass-game snaps in which he was slow to get out to his flat responsibility and was out-flanked.

NFL TRANSITION

Trotter was a fascinating evaluation, and you could easily argue that his 2023 tape was the best of any LB in the 2024 draft class.

Given his size, lack of length and explosiveness, the question is one of projection and transition to the next level. But he compensated for those “deficiencies” with high-level football intelligence regarding positioning, key diagnoses, balance and body control to contort to play around blockers and play speed and range to make plays inside out sideline-to-sideline.

Trotter also showed he is an excellent blitzer with the lateral quickness, balance and body control to beat running backs and close with burst to the QB. He is not a high-level athlete for a stacked LB. That, in combination with his lack of size and length, will drop him on some team's draft boards. However, his instinctive ability to navigate the box to evade and deconstruct blocks in the run game was as good as any LB in this draft class.

The question is whether teams see Trotter as a starting stacked LB in their base defense. With his excellent blitzing ability, will they also see him as a nickel LB? My sense is it will be team, scheme, and coach-specific.

Trotter does not check all the necessary boxes to be a starting stacked LB in the NFL, yet his tape is consistently strong, and he makes plays in all phases of the game. You see the athletic and physical limitations on tape, and that raises a level of concern.

Overall, Trotter sees things quickly and clearly with high-level key and diagnose and anticipatory traits. You see little wasted motion, poor angles or lack of awareness regarding play development and blocking schemes. Can that compensate for his lack of desirable measurables and ideal movement traits?

That Is not an easy question to answer. My guess is Trotter will be evaluated and projected differently by different coaches and teams. Is there a T.J. Edwards comparison to be made? Trotter is a better prospect than Nakobe Dean when he came out of Georgia a few years ago.

OTHER NOTES

Trotter came out of national power St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia as a consensus five-star recruit and the nation's No. 1 LB prospect. In his final two seasons at Clemson, Trotter recorded 28.5 TFL, 12 QB sacks and four interceptions, returning two for touchdowns.

In 2022, Trotter was used as a pass rusher at times in Clemson’s sub-defenses with snaps as a looper in stunt concepts. He was also deployed as the middle-hole defender in Cover 2.

In 2023, Trotter continued to be deployed as a blitzer in specific third-down and selected other situations. He was featured in multiple inside stunt concepts as the looper and the penetrator.

Trotter was also deployed as a spy at times vs. mobile quarterbacks. When Clemson went man coverage, Trotter predominantly matched up to the running back. Depending on the offensive formation, Trotter was the overhang LB playing in space.

This article first appeared on The 33rd Team and was syndicated with permission.

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