Jeremiah Trotter Jr. carries on legacies of father and late mother into the NFL: ‘It was also a dream of hers’

There’s a small room with yellow walls hidden behind double doors in the basement of the Trotter household in Hainesport, N.J. It once served as the toy room for Jeremiah Trotter Jr., his older sister, TreMil, and his younger brother, Josiah. But its purpose evolved roughly two years ago.

Those walls became a canvas for Tammi, their mother, to decorate in honor of her children. She adorned each panel with photos and posters from the football careers of both sons, 21-year-old Jeremiah and 19-year-old Josiah. Trotter Jr.’s three state championship rings from St. Joseph’s Prep are perched atop a frame displaying his high school jersey — No. 54, the same number that his father wore as an Eagles Hall of Fame linebacker.

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Their father’s influence is present in each photo. Both Jeremiah and Josiah are linebackers, too. Josiah wore No. 40 at the Prep and still dons it at West Virginia, paying homage to his father, who wore it at Stephen F. Austin State University in East Texas. Jeremiah brought the “Axe Man’s” signature wood-chopping sack celebration to Clemson, which is depicted in one of the photos on the wall.

Tammi’s essence emanates from the room, too. Each curated, hand-placed photo and relic is a reflection of her dedication to her family, which Trotter Jr. said persisted until she died from breast cancer in February 2023. Just as they are upon those yellow walls, both parents’ legacies are etched into the foundation of Trotter Jr.’s journey to the NFL, culminating with the draft this week.

“It’s a dream of mine,” Trotter Jr. told The Inquirer. “But it was also a dream of hers.”

Sometimes, before a child is born, parents will read to them in the womb. They’ll have conversations with them. They’ll sing to them.

Jeremiah Trotter Sr. took a different approach. He prayed for his children.

“Especially my boys,” he explained. “I prayed for my daughter, too. But I prayed for them as far as, ‘All right, God. I need you to make them big, fast, athletic. Everything you gave me, give them double.’”

Early on, Trotter realized that his oldest son inherited his toughness. When the toddler tagged along to Hawaii for his father’s Pro Bowl appearance one year, he opened the family’s hotel room door so hard that his foot slid underneath, ripping off his big toenail.

The waterworks didn’t last long. A half hour after his parents bandaged his toe, young Jeremiah was running around outside as if nothing had happened.

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“I just remember how tough he was,” the elder Trotter said. “I remember saying to myself, ‘Man, if he keeps growing, he’s going to be one hell of a linebacker.’”

That sense of toughness came naturally to the younger Trotter on the football field, as evidenced by the physical approach that he takes to the linebacker position. But he cultivated other traits, such as a strong work ethic, to set himself up for success in life and in football. His parents modeled hard work, and he followed suit.

Throughout the elder Trotter’s three years at Stephen F. Austin and his 11-year NFL career predominantly spent with the Eagles, he learned the importance of putting in extra work away from the team facilities. Josiah recalled his father always saying to him and his brother, “If you’re doing the same as the other person, you’re not going to get any better.”

Trotter Sr. seldom put that extra work in alone. When he was working his way back from a knee injury during his sophomore year in college, he said he would get up at 3 a.m. for extra conditioning. Tammi, whom he met on his recruiting trip to Stephen F. Austin and started dating shortly thereafter, would accompany him in support. During NFL offseason workouts, Tammi would time his sprints.

“It was always us,” he said. “We would schedule our classes where we could eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. We were always together. You know there’s always that one couple in college where everybody says, ‘Yeah, they’re going to get married?’ That was us.

“We just created this life. A family. And that support that she helped me with through my college career just carried over to our children.”

The elder Trotter was big on doing film study with his sons, both in youth football as their coach for the Lumberton Hurricanes and at the Prep. They would break down their games to learn from their mistakes and watch film of future opponents to prepare for their next contest.

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Tammi was the one who filmed those games. When dad wasn’t available to put his sons through their individual workouts, she would spot them in the weight room and time their sprints on the track. She backed her children and her husband in their endeavors, all while pursuing her career as a realtor. The amount of focus she exhibited in executing her litany of daily responsibilities rubbed off on young Jeremiah, his brother said.

“Once he has his mind set up, he’s going to go do something, he’s going to do it to its full potential and really try,” Josiah said. “And that’s the same way my mom was.”

When young Jeremiah joined the St. Joseph’s Prep football program as a freshman in 2017, Tim Roken was the offensive coordinator. For two years, Roken recalled that Trotter drove him nuts in practice.

His athleticism and versatility were evident as a freshman, whether Trotter was shedding blocks or working on his coverage skills against receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., a fellow 2024 draft prospect. The coaching staff was determined to get Trotter on the field, even if he wasn’t always at linebacker. He rushed the passer on third downs. He contributed on special teams.

“When guys come into our program, the two things that we ask of them are give us great effort and be disciplined,” said Roken, who became head coach in 2019. “You could see that that was already instilled in him as a young man. That’s a credit, obviously, to Senior and Tammi and how they raised their sons.”

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When Roken watches clips from Trotter’s career at the Prep, he sees his explosiveness, his violent hands, and his tackling ability. Overall, Roken said Trotter played with an “unbelievable passion for his teammates,” a sense of dedication that transcended his efforts on the gridiron.

Trotter missed the final nine games of his junior season due to a broken arm. Roken said that one of the pitfalls for injured players can be that they feel like they’re not a part of what’s happening on the field. They fall away from the program. Trotter did the opposite.

“Jeremiah wanted to be around as much as possible,” Roken said. “He was out at practice, he was helping, he was engaged in scheme and situation for the week. Helping out the younger guys and his brother who had to fill in for him.”

That desire to be there for others is a trait that his mother also possessed, Trotter said. Alison Reinhard, a former Prep mother, can attest to that. When her son George, who is the same age as Josiah, joined the Lumberton Hurricanes, Tammi was the first person to welcome Reinhard and her family to the team.

Tammi and the elder Trotter encouraged her to send George to the Prep, and Reinhard was ultimately convinced by the “family atmosphere” she observed on the team. She said that Tammi took all of the mothers in, introducing new ones to different people around the program and setting their expectations for the time investment that their sons were about to make. Her love extended from the mothers to their sons, too.

“She was a mother to all the boys,” Reinhard said. “It wasn’t just her sons. She called all the players her boys. Like from every level that played with the boys growing up. If she knew your son, that was one of her boys.”

Tammi had a knack for bringing others together and making them feel important, thanks to her energy that Reinhard described as “sunshine in a bottle.” The Prep mothers honored her impact by renaming the annual mother-son clinic Tackles for Tammi. In his own, soft-spoken way, Trotter Jr. takes a similarly devoted approach to building relationships.

“If you need a favor or something like that, I don’t mind stepping out of the way to go help you out,” he said. “That’s just how she raised all of my siblings and I just try to hold that dear and try to apply that to my daily actions.”

The elder Trotter said he always knew that his oldest son had the potential to make it to the NFL from a young age. He observed it in his toughness when he mistakenly annihilated his big toenail. He noticed it in the way he moved on the basketball court, footwork and all, at 3 years old.

But some kids stop growing earlier than others, so he said he understood that those athletic qualities don’t necessarily translate to future success. He held out hope regardless.

“His mom was like 5-10, I’m 6-2,” Trotter said.

“So if he was really short, then somebody got some questions to answer,” he said with a laugh.

Tammi and the elder Trotter provided Jeremiah with the foundation. He built on it to become his own distinct player and person. His father played in a different era when linebackers were getting downhill and taking on linemen because of the frequency of run plays. The son said he channels his dad’s physicality in the run game, but he plays more often in open space and has spent more time developing his coverage skills.

Trotter Jr. continued to grow as a player at Clemson, carving out a role as a two-year starter and leading the team in tackles, tackles for losses, and sacks in both seasons. He learned of his mother’s cancer diagnosis during his sophomore year. Even though she couldn’t be with him in person to cheer him on as she received treatment, he said he felt her support from hundreds of miles away.

She showed it in her regular text messages, sharing with him scripture or the daily devotional. She watched his games from home and called him afterward to express her pride. When she died roughly eight months after her diagnosis, the family took comfort in the outpouring of support from the people whose lives she impacted.

“There’s always friends that I may not have met, but always they’ll send a text, sometimes I’ll get a text or a DM or stuff like that just talking about how great she was as a person,” Trotter Jr. said. “I really appreciate that and it just showed me the type of person that she was and the type of life that she led.”

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According to Josiah, their mother always knew that her oldest son would eventually make it to the NFL. Soon enough, his draft fate will be determined. The Eagles have done their homework on him, hosting him for an in-house visit earlier this month, he said. But the elder Trotter said he wants him “to go where God wants him to be,” even if that’s not Philadelphia.

Just don’t ask him about the possibility of the Dallas Cowboys selecting his son.

“That’s what my dad used to say: ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,’” the elder Trotter said.

His son won’t throw an elaborate draft party. He’ll keep it low-key — just like his personality, he explained — with a circle of close family members and friends. Josiah will FaceTime from West Virginia, where he will be preparing to play his spring game on Saturday.

It will be an emotional day without his mother physically present, Jeremiah Jr. said. Still, her memory lives on in her children and their aspirations.

“I knew what the dream meant to me and her as well,” he said. “The time that she put into it, traveling to games, money spent in sports in general. Just trying to help me improve myself and get better to be able to accomplish this dream.”