Oh, what a difference a year can make. Just one year ago, then-freshman Jeremiah Trotter Jr. saw limited on-field action, flying under the radar for Clemson in his rookie campaign. Fast forward a year later and the second-year linebacker has been a significant difference maker for Wes Goodwin’s defense this season.
Though Trotter’s breakout season may have come as a surprise to some, it was no surprise to head coach Dabo Swinney, who says the linebacker came just as advertised.
“He’s just a baller,” Swinney said on Tuesday. “He’s an incredibly instinctive player, he’s exactly what we thought he’d be in the recruiting process. Obviously, he’s grown up around the game his whole life, but he got a chance to really learn last year behind two great ones in [James] Skalski and Baylon [Spector], and he’s put the work in. He’s incredibly focused. He’s not a distracted kid, he’s about his business all the time; he acts like a pro.”
That pro mentality Swinney describes comes from the NFL legacy present within the linebacker’s family. Growing up with the example of his father, four-time Pro Bowler Jeremiah Trotter Sr., gave the New Jersey native a front row seat to just what it takes to play at the pro level.
“I feel like that’s definitely coming from the way I was raised,” Trotter said. “My dad definitely tried to make sure I take my highs, but don’t get too high, and with my lows, don’t get too low. I just try to be levelheaded and always just try to work. Whenever you get an award or you get some success, you don’t want to make that success fill you up, you got to stay hungry. You got to keep trying to grind and keep working because there is always something that you can get better at. I just try to keep that in mind and try to live by that.”
Trotter’s hunger for success coupled with his focus on the game in all aspects of his life is what Swinney says will serve the sophomore well in his success moving forward.
“He’s one of them guys you tell them, ‘You want to be a pro? Well, how about act like one,’” Swinney said. “’How about think like one. How about work like one. How about prepare like one. Study like one. Make sure your actions and your habits align with what you want’; he’s the epitome of that. He knows exactly what he wants, and his actions and his habits align exactly with what he wants, so he’s on his way.”
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