We’ve made it, everyone. Football is finally here. Sure, we got a taste of NFL football during the preseason and college football last weekend with Week Zero, but college football truly gets underway this weekend with the NFL regular-season kickoff coming next Thursday night.
Many eyes will be glued to the screen this weekend to watch college’s best programs and players take the field in their season debuts. NFL scouts and front office executives will be watching the games for specific prospects, continuing the scouting process to start building up their player profiles for the 2024 NFL Draft.
Josh Edwards of CBS Sports recently published a piece highlighting one college prospect each NFL team should be monitoring during the 2023 season. Edwards paired the Pittsburgh Steelers with Clemson LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr., a prospect widely considered the top inside linebacker in the draft class.
“Pittsburgh is not afraid to take a linebacker in the first round, position value be darn,” Edwards wrote. “The son of former the Eagles linebacker is a disciplined, hard-working linebacker who brings accountability to that unit. He embodies the rugged aura for which the franchise has been known throughout its history. Trotter is one of the top linebacker prospects eligible for the draft. Cornerback and potentially a slot receiver to complement Diontae Johnson and George Pickens are alternative routes.”
Trotter’s name has already been linked to Pittsburgh a lot prior to the kickoff of the college football season. He’s been paired with the Steelers in several “way-too-early” mock drafts, having the bloodlines and pedigree Pittsburgh desires in its first-round prospects. We completed a Summer Scouting profile on Trotter a couple of months ago, noting his play speed, aggressiveness, and coverage ability as strengths to his game while his lack of ideal size and length being potential knocks against him in the pre-draft process. He was a second-team All-American selection in his first full season as a starter in 2022, posting over 90 total stops along with 13.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, six passes broken up, and an interception, which he returned for a TD.
The Steelers overhauled their inside linebacker room this offseason, signing Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, and Kwon Alexander. However, Alexander is a free agent after this season and Roberts will be 30 by the start of next season. If Pittsburgh covets a long-term solution at off-ball linebacker and believes Trotter can be that quality starter in the league, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Clemson product on Pittsburgh’s short list of players it considers taking in the first round next spring.
