Lets Talk About It: The Axeman Returns: Jeremiah Trotter's SFA Homecoming

Send us a text

Jeremiah "Axeman" Trotter makes a triumphant return to his alma mater Stephen F Austin University for their spring football game. The Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Famer reflects on his journey from chopping wood in East Texas to NFL stardom while embracing his role as a proud father of two football-playing sons.

• NFL legend and Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Famer Jeremiah Trotter returns to Stephen F Austin University
• Trotter explains how his "Axeman" nickname originated from his childhood chopping wood in East Texas
• Recounting SFA's 1995 playoff run to the Division 1-AA Final Four and the brutally cold game against Montana
• Comparing the different types of cold between Missoula, Montana (-2°F) and Philadelphia
• Trotter discusses SFA's current program under Coach Colby Carthel and navigating the NIL era
• Proud father moment as Trotter's son Jeremiah Jr. was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles
• Brief mention of Trotter losing his wife Tammy to breast cancer two years ago

Visit HonestAirConditioningbiz to connect with our sponsor Honest Plumbing and Air for all your HVAC and plumbing needs before the Texas summer heat arrives.

Support the show

Please like and follow each of Stories Inside the Man Cave Podcast social media links on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:34):
This episode of Stories Inside the Magday
Podcast is brought to you by ourfurther family at Honest
Plumbing and Air, and you canget in touch with them pretty
quick.
Just visit that website on thelower left-hand side of the
screen HonestAirConditioningbiz.
Honest Plumbing and Air, wherea handshake still means
something, and that handshakedoes mean something extremely

(01:01):
valuable when doing business.
So give our folks out at HonestPlumbing and Air a shout for
all of your HVAC and plumbingneeds, and do so for your AC,
before we get to that Texassummer heat, which is literally
a few weeks away.
Hey, listen, I had a reunion atmy alma mater, stephen F Austin
, wearing the shirtsrepresenting the purple and

(01:25):
white A true lumberjack.
Well, one of my lumberjackbrothers is a Hall of Famer, a
Hall of Famer in the city ofPhiladelphia and will soon be an
NFL Hall of Famer at some point.
I don't want to project it, buthe is one of the men who I will
always remember because hebrought the ferocity to the game

(01:48):
.
Extremely good linebacker andhe was an all-American type
linebacker at Stephen F AustinMade his first return to Stephen
F Austin in quite some timebecause he was busy.
He had an incredible NFL career.
Now he's just playing the roleof dad entrepreneur and he's the

(02:10):
subject of this episode orinstallment of let's Talk About
it.
Wow, jeremiah Trotter gave allthat stump of wood could handle.

(02:43):
That was at my college almamater, stephen F Austin.
Jeremiah Trotter returned forthe spring game recently or this
past weekend and Kobe Carthel,the head football coach at
Stephen F Austin, and thatadministration there.
They have done a good job ofreconnecting with the alumni and
former players and JeremiahTrotter agreed to come back.

(03:06):
He along with Larry Sinners,another Lumberjack great.
They both returned for thespring game.
When I was in school I wasdoubling in the media and as a
student and Jeremiah Trotter wasone of my well, forever one of
my Lumberjack brethren.
And Jeremiah Trotter was one ofmy well, forever one of my
Lumberjack brethren.
He was one of the bestlinebackers to ever play at

(03:29):
Stephen F Austin, so good thatthe Hooks, texas native left
after his junior season to enterthe NFL draft and he was
selected third in the thirdround by the Philadelphia Eagles
.
He returned to the spring game,as did I, but I was definitely
not the focus and that's wherewe're going to bring in Jeremiah

(03:53):
Trotter the VIP guest of honoron this installment of let's
Talk About it.
All right, we've had a lot ofesteemed guests and stories
inside the man Cave podcast, butyou know we've never had a Hall

(04:13):
of Famer or someone that hasbuilt his own nickname, axeman,
in the NFL with the Eagles.
And did that all start whereyou're from?
Hooks, texas?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
or did you develop that here at Stephen F Austin?
No, it started with myupbringing chopping wood,
growing up in East Texas, andyou know, once I made my name, I
started to make my name in theNFL.
I kind of wanted to dosomething that represented me
and I started doing the axe chop.
But it's ironic though somebodywhen I was doing the axe chop,

(04:46):
but it's ironic though Somebodywhen I was in the NFL, they was
like yo, what was your mascot?
I said we're the Lumberjacks.
It's ironic that I was aFitting.
Yeah, it's fitting, right.
So it was meant to be Axe man.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
See, you can see why.
See, in Hooks, Texas, north Ithink, an hour and a half north
of Nacogdoches, essentially innortheast Texas.
Jeremiah grew up around thelumber industry.
He clearly knows how to swingthat axe and does it precise,
with precise talent.

(05:17):
A man of many talents, jeremiahTrotter is not only a former
football great, the guy is anentrepreneur and really just a
great human being.
In our conversation we made thattransition from him being how
he earned the nickname of Axemanto you know his time at Stephen

(05:40):
F Austin, you see, when heplayed in Philly.
See, he played for Philadelphiathree times in his career,
highly respected, highlyregarded, and he's a member of
the Philadelphia Eagles Hall ofFame recently here in the last
two years, and was inducted intothe Eagles Hall of Fame.
Well, during his time atStephen F Austin the 1995 team

(06:04):
was his freshman season StephenF Austin advanced all the way to
the final four of what was 1AA,then now the football
championship subdivision, lowerdivision.
One Great year, great year,great year.
So they had to play Montana atMontana, think about that In the

(06:27):
month of December.
You think about the climate inMissoula, montana.
Well, philadelphia, in which hespent the majority or most of
his NFL career, in which hespent the majority or most of
his NFL career.
It's cold there in Philly, butduring our time this past
weekend at the spring game, hewas talking to a former SFA

(06:48):
quarterback, james Ritchie, andthey were talking about that
time, that game against Montana,stephen F Austin.
The team, with a I want to say11 guys on that team, were on
NFL rosters after theireligibility, including Trotter.
Well, it was so cold that day,so cold, very cold Ice snow in

(07:15):
between the mountains, andTrotter was talking about
comparing the cold in Missoulaversus the cold in Philly.
There's a difference.
What was different?

Speaker 2 (07:29):
I can talk about it, but the people watching.
That was brutally cold.
The temperature was different.
Missoula, I mean, it get colderin Philly in the wintertime,
but man, missoula was adifferent type of cold.
Right, it was a different typeof cold.
So it's definitely by far.
It's not even a close secondcompared to how cold it was in

(07:50):
Missoula.
What was it?
Two below zero.
They said it warmed up to fourdegrees.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
There's a reason why I didn't make that trip.
Now the score was 70-14, or,excuse me, montana.
Montana ended up winning thenational championship that year
at 1AA, but the score didn'tindicate how good SFA was, did
not at all, because it was socold.

(08:21):
Those Trotter and theLumberjacks, you think about it.
You play at four degrees ice,snow and a frozen field for the
most part and it negated all ofStephen F Austin's speed.
But Montana was a great teamand they are a tradition-rich
program at that level.

(08:42):
Well, coming back to SFA,trotter wants to help.
He wants to be a guy who'svisible, to help the program,
especially in this NIL era, andget the program back on track.
Colby Carthel does a great joband that staff there's a lot of

(09:02):
talent on that team.
So that was our next item onthe conversation of bringing
this program back and whatTrotter thinks about the current
Stephen F Austin program.
What do you see?
I mean, what do you see in thisprogram compared to the eyes
when you were here growing up asa young man?

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Man programming in good hands.
Man he's in good hands, seeguys is passionate.
I see a head coach that's doingwhatever it takes to navigate
his way through this whole NILdeal to try to take care of his
players and keep his playershere, and then, on top of that,
a great coaching staff going outrecruiting top talent man, and
so he's doing whatever he needsto do, whatever is necessary to

(09:46):
keep pace with this growing NILworld.
And all this stuff is stillrelatively new right now.
So you know, I just wanted tocome back, man.
It hadn't been back in a while.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
It gets tough when you, when you're out of town,
but I want to come back and justshow my support and that's what
I love about trot he's alwaysbeen candid, uses humor, just a
personable guy and but he keepsit real, very real.
He and Michael Ricks, areceiver for Stephen F Austin,

(10:21):
both drafted in that second tofourth round of the NFL draft.
So two guys from the same teamdrafted very early in the NFL
draft that year.
But it was good to see him backand I know it meant a lot to
those kids.
The current lumberjacks meant alot to SFA supporters, alumni

(10:41):
like myself.
Trott got to coach.
You know the team for thespring game split in half.
He coached one team and Larrycenters another NFL great
lumberjack, great coach theother team and they decided it
by a game at midfield, by it wasso close rock paper scissors.
Let's talk about Trott the dad.

(11:02):
He has two sons, jeremiah Jrand Josiah Trotter.
Josiah playing at theUniversity of Missouri.
And then Jeremiah Jr last yearthe Philadelphia Eagles traded
up to draft the linebacker fromClemson.
I want you to watch Trotter ashe talks about being a dad, very

(11:40):
proud, prideful in that title.
Father, you've got one youngman just drafted, fitting, going
to Eagles.
That's a God thing.
And then you have the youngestone.
He's about to experience thatTell me a little bit about you
being the father and navigatingall that man, it's just um, I'm

(12:05):
just enjoying the moment.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Right, I'm enjoying the moment.
I did my part.
I've coached them from the timethey were little, um, through
high school, and you know Istill you know we still watch
film together time to time, butright now I'm just enjoying
being a dad man and justenjoying that process, seeing
how, you know, god is gonna movethem throughout their careers
and and elevate them and putthem in position to be
successful, and, um, justenjoying that brother I

(12:27):
appreciate no problem anytime,love the interview, I love
seeing the glow of a proudfather or even a proud mom, um,
and speaking of a really sadstory, um, jeremiah's wife, the
mother of jeremiah and josiah,tammy trotter um passed away two

(12:50):
years ago.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Uh lost her battle with breast cancer, which is a
disease very near me, sensitivesubject my ex-wife, two-time
survivor still very good friends.
She beat breast cancer twicebut it's a hard subject and I
briefly mentioned it to Jeremiahand how he's handled this to be

(13:15):
a better father and be a greatfather, because he always has
been.
But that's a tough subject todiscuss.
And for all you ladies outthere, please, please, your
maintenance, your breast exams,everything, please be proactive.
Hey, thank you to Jeremiah,thank you to Stephen F Austin,

(13:36):
the football program, so kind,so welcoming always and for
Jeremiah man, I'm so proud ofyou.
And thank you for now being apart of the stories inside the
man Cave podcast fraternity, soto speak, the man Cave Podcast
fraternity, so to speak.
So whenever you get anopportunity to talk about

(13:57):
Stephen F Austin, football andJeremiah Trotter and the great
dad that he is and his two sonsand his entire family, it's
always good to talk about it,thank you.