Meet the Mizzou Transfer: Josiah Trotter's Ceiling, Fit with Tigers

West Virginia (2023-2024)

Trotter chose West Virginia over offers from Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame and others.

Trotter was set to earn opportunities in his true freshman season, but suffered a knee injury in spring practices that kept him off the field for the entirety of the season.

"I think that whole process really helped me," Trotter said of the injury recovery in a spring press conference. "It just lights a fire when you can't be out there playing."

When he returned to health and earned his opportunity, he made the most of it.

Starting in 11 games, Trotter racked up 93 total tackles, the most among all freshmen in the country. He recorded a career-high of 12 tackles in games against Cincinnati and Iowa State. This debut season earned him a spot on The Athletic's Freshman All-American team.

Fit with Tigers

Trotter is a brick wall as a run defender, but is agile enough to drop back in pass coverage too. Because of his experience as a starter last season, he'll also likely be the defense's communication leader by wearing the coach-to-player headset. Hicks took on those duties for most of last season.

"His physicality jumps out, his ability to communicate," defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said of Trotter in a spring press conference.

Trotter's wide, stocky build and skillset is somewhat a deviation from what Missouri has rolled with at middle linebacker over recent seasons. Slimmer builds and quicker skillsets from the likes of Ty'Ron Hopper or Khalil Jacobs have been what Missouri has looked for in recruiting recently.

But Trotter is built like a more traditional linebacker, adding a physical force to the middle of the field.

Expect him to be an every-down starter at middle linebacker, while Jacobs rotates in on third-downs, and Rodriguez along with redshirt freshman Jeremiah Beasley also establish roles for themselves.

"So that linebacker group — very deep," Drinkwitz said in the spring. "Very deep, very impactful. ... I look for that room to be as deep and as impactful as the edge position."

Coach's Take

"Really an impactful player — just a dynamic downhill (guy), everything that we had expected him to be and more."Eli Drinkwitz on Trotter

Ceiling and Floor

Ceiling: A constant in an inside linebacker room full of rotations, excels at run defender and has little issue dropping back in coverage.

Floor: Struggles in pass coverage, but still brings value as a run defender.

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