Trotter did not even play football in junior high school. One of eight children growing up in Hooks, Texas, Trotter worked with his father, Myra, chopping wood. When the other kids were heading off to football practice, Trotter was picking up his axe and going off to work. His father finally relented and allowed him to play in high school, but only with the understanding he would chop his share of wood when he came home.
Trotter received a football scholarship to a Division 1-AA school, Stephen F. Austin State University, where he earned All-Southland Conference honors. He left school early to enter the 1998 NFL Draft so he could better support his family.