This time last year, Josiah Trotter was supposed to be playing.
A season-ending injury he suffered in spring practice before the 2023 season meant he would miss all of last year. But 11 games through the 2024 season, Trotter says he's happy to be healthy, but he's still continuing to learn as much as he can.
"Over the season, a lot of stuff to continue to get better at and work on, a lot of things to, of course, clean up. Never play a perfect game, but still a lot of things I want to continue to get better at and work on throughout the week," Trotter said.
With one game to play in the regular season, Trotter has been one of the more impactful players on a West Virginia defense that has put together an up-and-down campaign.
Trotter is second on the team in tackles with 84.0 and also has the 10th-best overall defensive grade and second-best tackling grade on WVU, according to Pro Football Focus.
"It meant a lot, especially missing the whole year last year and everything that happened last year, but it was great to finally get out there and finally play my first college game, make my first tackle and everything," Trotter said of being able to experience a full season.
Trotter comes from a football family, as his father, Jeremiah Trotter Sr., is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame, and his brother, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., was drafted by the Eagles this past year.
As Trotter has continued to grow as a player, he's continued to rely upon his dad's experience and use him as a resource.
"Especially when it might come to a technique something as far as technique or technique issue or something like that. It gets to a point where you got to really listen. Just over these past fall camps or spring ball, just really helping me and throughout the season kind of just helping me, especially with the little stuff," Trotter said.
Another thing Trotter has had to learn this year is how to take care of his body. A couple of weeks ago, Trotter would be held back from starting the game after he didn't practice that week, and this is the first time he's experienced playing in a full season.
"As the season goes along, at the same time, my body is getting used to it because being a year off of football and kind of lifting, your body is not used to hitting and running around a lot of that, especially not 10-11 weeks in. You know, getting used to that, but I’m just happy and blessed just to be out there, be healthy right now," Trotter said.
Trotter added he wants to do his job to the best of his ability and that this season was somewhat what he expected it to be from a personal standpoint.
"I think it was all what I kind of expected it to be. You kind of just focus on your 1/11th and what you have to do. It’s really all I expected it kind of to be," Trotter said.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
