How Josiah Trotter’s Transfer to Mizzou ‘Rolled the Ball’ Into NFL Career

INDIANAPOLIS — Based on his family tree, it felt like Josiah Trotter was always destined to be an NFL linebacker.

He still had to get to that point himself, however. After spending the first two seasons of his college football career with the West Virginia Mountaineers, a change of scenery was needed. Enter the Missouri Tigers.

After a breakout redshirt sophomore season, Trotter climbed up draft boards as a young but explosive inside linebacker. At the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine on Wednesday, it became clear, from Trotter’s perspective, that his time with the Tigers played a huge role in that.

“I feel like coming in and transferring to Missouri was almost like rolling the ball into the NFL,” Trotter said.

Trotter did have a big decision to make during the time leading up to the 2025 season. He was in high demand, despite not being ranked in the top 250 of all transfer portal players, but wanted to find the right home to continue in his development.

An injury in 2023 knocked him out for the entirety of what would’ve been his true freshman season. He followed that up with 93 total tackles in 2024 and 84 total tackles in 2025 with Missouri. It became very clear in a quick amount of time that Trotter was talented enough to play among the best college football players in one of the most talented college football conferences.

“That time in the portal, I'm looking at the SEC, Big 10. You want to go somewhere where you know it's going to prepare you for the NFL,” Trotter said. “Play NFL (and) college players. I felt that was a place I could go and play on the national stage, play some really big games.”

Missouri helped Trotter get prepared for the NFL in a variety of ways. His on-the-field abilities saw significant improvements, but the actual transfer process also may have been of benefit to him.

From an NFL general manager or scout’s eyes, having to go into a new locker room, meet new players and coaches and learn a new system is a frequent process in the pros. The fact that Trotter has already experienced that at such a young age, while handling it as he did and improving on the field, is a green flag for those looking to draft him.

“Being a transfer, you're a new guy, having to get to know everybody,” Trotter said. “So for me, it was almost like almost how I'm gonna have to experience coming to the NFL as a new guy and having to get to know guys, learn the playbook, just kind of create new relationships, become a leader on that team, and whatever aspect that team, and whatever aspect that is.”

This decision to enter the transfer portal and make the trip to Columbia ended up being a good one for his development and NFL Draft stock. In some ways, that makes him an expert on the transfer process and therefore qualifies him to offer up some advice to those who will enter the portal in the future.

“If you’re thinking about entering the portal, just don’t enter to enter,” Trotter said. “For me, my head coach had got fired and i still didn’t really want to leave. Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to enter.”

Even if Trotter didn’t want to hit the road from Morgantown, there’s no denying it was a situation that paid off for him.

Despite the transfer decision, Trotter is still a young player. At the same time, it’s not a knock against him as an NFL prospect.

The fact that he’s undergone two productive seasons already and has the physical tools at only 20 years old is impressive to many NFL circles. He still has tons of upside and years to play as a pro, but already has the production in college to justify him being an immediate contributor for the team that selects him.

“I feel like I'm very mature at my age. I’m high upside being 20 years old,” Trotter said. “I feel like my best ball is ahead of me and coming in really young. And just having people ahead of me, like my brother (and) my dad, helped me along the way in college and heading to the NFL.”

Trotter clearly improved as a football player during his lone season with the Tigers, but also learned a lot about himself during that timeframe. Being able to stay present as both an athlete and person should be a valuable skill for Trotter moving forward in his football career.

“Learning how to be where my feet are and taking it one day at a time,” Trotter said. “Continue just to grow and just enjoy the experience of where I’m at and not looking too far ahead.”

Trotter is the consensus No. 63 player in the 2026 NFL Draft and is the seventh-best consensus linebacker. According to the former Mountaineer, he’s expected to land in the range of the first to third round.

It seems likely that Trotter would’ve made his way to the NFL one way or another after his productive redshirt freshman season at West Virginia in 2024. He did increase his odds of that happening with an impressive 2025 season after entering the transfer portal. It seems that was a decision that paid off for the future NFL linebacker with an astounding professional pedigree.

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