WVU LB Josiah Trotter Earns Honor Named After Former NFL MVP

Josiah Trotter grew up around NFL stars and now he’s receiving praise from a former MVP for his own play. In conjunction with the Maxwell Award, Trotter has been named the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Week for his play in WVU’s comeback win over Kansas.

On Saturday, Trotter led the West Virginia defense with 11 total tackles, highlighted by six recorded as solo tackles. Trotter was a big reason why the Mountaineers were able to mount a late comeback and defeat Kansas 32-28.

Congratulations to Josiah Trotter, West Virginia University! Josiah is this week’s Shaun Alexander Freshman Player of the Week. @TrotterJosiah and the West Virginia Mountaineers gained a victory over the Kansas Jayhawks, with his 11 total tackles, including 6 solo tackles. S/O… pic.twitter.com/FMZnAUeKW3

— Shaun Alexander (@shaunalexander) September 24, 2024

After missing all of the 2023 season due to injury, Trotter has been a force all season for WVU. He’s tied for the team lead with 28 tackles, including a team-leading 14 solo tackles. He’s also assisted on a sack and has 1.5 tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry so far in 2024.

Even though the WVU defense struggled early in the season, Trotter has two double-figure tackle performances and also reached double digits when he finished with 10 against Penn State. Trotter is tied for No. 13 in the Big 12 in tackles per game.

Sophomore running back Jahiem White earned this honor from Alexander as a freshman last year.

Trotter isn’t the only Mountaineer to earn recognition for his efforts to help beat Kansas.

WVU spur linebacker Tyrin Bradley Jr. as the Defensive Player of the Week for Week 4.

Bradley stood out all throughout West Virginia’s comeback win over Kansas, but made his presence really felt at the end to lock up the victory. He recorded seven tackles, an interception and then both forced and recovered a fumble with eight seconds remaining in the game. Bradley’s seven tackles were a career-high for a single game.

The resiliency of this group of Mountaineers will be tested again in two weeks. West Virginia will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Sept. 18. WVU-OSU is scheduled to kickoff at 4 pm ET and the game will air nationally on ESPN2.

WVU currently sits at 2-2 (1-0, Big 12) heading into their first bye week, and one that’s coming at a perfect time to recover, both mentally and physically from an up and down season so far.

For a related story, Josiah Trotter embraces being compared to his former NFL All-Pro dad.