The 2019 campaign will always live in Southmoreland football lore. After a nearly 40-year absence from the WPIAL playoffs, the Scotties finally snapped the streak that season. A key part of that team, Isaac Trout, is now thriving as a college player at Waynesburg University. He’s under the microscope in this edition of the Westmoreland Alum Q&A.

Trout was a freshman for Southmoreland in the 2018 season, as the Scotties went 4-6 overall, including 2-5 in the conference. As a result, Southmoreland failed to qualify for the playoffs.

That changed the next year, however, with Trout playing a big part in the turnaround. He caught 11 passes for 164 yards, rushed eight times for 31 yards, and notched a pair of touchdowns. Collectively, the Scotties went 5-6 overall, including 4-3 in the conference. Thus, Southmoreland made the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 1979, but fell to Avonworth in the Class 2A first round.

In 2020, Trout caught 20 passes for 261 yards, added 11 carries for nine yards, and scored three touchdowns. The Scotties went 3-3 overall, including 2-3 in the conference, and failed to qualify for postseason play.

In Trout’s senior season, he emerged as one of the top offensive players in the conference, as he caught 33 passes for 571 yards, rushed 27 times for 226 yards, and scored nine total touchdowns. He helped the Scotties go 7-4 overall, including 4-2 in conference action. Subsequently, Southmoreland qualified for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs, but lost to East Allegheny in the opening round.

For his efforts, Trout was a team captain and twice was acknowledged as an All-Conference performer. He also participated in track and field and basketball.

Following his graduation, he opted to continue his football career at Waynesburg University. As a freshman receiver in 2022, Trout appeared in 10 games, including nine starts. In those contests, he caught 11 passes for 139 yards and one touchdown. The Yellow Jackets compiled a record of 4-6 overall, including 3-5 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC).

Last season, Trout emerged as a top threat for Waynesburg, as he played in 10 games, including nine starts, and paced the team with 43 receptions, while notching 457 yards and five scores, and he added one carry for five yards. As a result, Trout was honored as an All-PAC Honorable Mention. The Yellow Jackets sputtered collectively, however, going just 2-8 on the campaign, which all of the contests coming in PAC play.

This campaign, Trout played in all 10 games once again, as he snagged 41 receptions for 381 yards and three touchdowns, and he added seven punt returns, averaging 3.1 yards per return. Waynesburg wrapped up the campaign finishing at 4-6 while playing a PAC-only ledger.

Additionally, Trout has competed in track and field at Waynesburg, finishing 28th in the 60-meter dash and 20th in the long jump at the PAC Championships last season.

Isaac set aside his time to answer questions about his biggest areas of growth as a player at Waynesburg, the pros and cons of playing two college sports, and his pregame ritual.

Q: How have you evaluated your performance this season?

A: I would say that my performance has been good so far this year from a personal and a team aspect.

Q: What is an underrated aspect of playing receiver?

A: I think that the most underrated aspect of a receiver is blocking, and that is something that I take great pride in.

Q: What have been your biggest areas of growth as a player during your time at Waynesburg?

A: I think that some of my biggest areas of growth have been in the weight room, but also as a leader, on and off the field.

Q: The Yellow Jackets have taken a step forward this season from a year ago. What have been the biggest factors in that improvement?

A: I think that the biggest factors of improvement have been everyone coming together and continuing to get better every day, and to also just do our jobs as a unit.

Q: What team and individual goals did you set for this campaign?

A: I think that a goal that we set as a team was to just improve on our year from last year and keep improving day after day and week after week. For personal goals, I just wanted to make sure I did my job every day and want to help the team get better each day.

Q: What led to your decision to attend Waynesburg?

A: A lot of things led to my decision to come to Waynesburg. Like you mention in a later question, Coach Fred was a huge reason for me to make it to any college. I also loved meeting Coach Coleman on my visit and to understand his goals for this program, and I’m greatly appreciative of Coach Moore taking so much of his time recruiting me.

Q: What is your major and ideal future profession?

A: I am a secondary education major with a focus on social studies. My ideal profession is to be able to be a high school teacher and probably also coach, as well.

Q: What has been your favorite college course?

A: I think that my favorite college courses so far have been my U.S. history courses; going into so much depth and learning more has been so beneficial to me.

Q: You also compete in track and field. What are the pros and cons of competing in two college sports?

A: One of the pros is keeping so active during the offseason, but that also brings in the cons of such a heavy workload, because offseason is usually the building of my strength and conditioning training.

Q: One of your coaches at Southmoreland, Ron Frederick, tragically passed away a few years ago. What was his impact with the Scotties?

A: Coach Fred’s impact is unbelievable - it’s hard to even explain. He did so much for the program and me as an individual. I can tell his impact is still felt at Southmoreland with the weekly uniform reveals that he used to do so well.

Q: What was your fondest high school memory?

A: One of my fondest memories from high school would have to be my sophomore year when we broke the 40-year playoff drought. That was such an amazing experience, and I was so close with so many of my teammates from that team.

Q: Do you still follow Southmoreland athletics or WPIAL football?

A: I still follow Southmoreland football occasionally, and I definitely follow a lot of the WPIAL football games.

Q: If you could line up against any defensive back, past or present, who would you choose?

A: This is a tough question, but if I had to only choose one, I would have to choose Darrelle Revis, one of the best corners to ever play.

Q: Do you have any superstitions or rituals before, during, or after a game?

A: I am not a very superstitious person, but ever since I was young, I always picked a couple of songs that I would listen to before I played. They have changed up a little over the years, but in a season, I will pick around three of the same songs that I have to listen to before I leave the locker room.

Q: If you woke up tomorrow with $1 million, what is the first thing you'd do with the money?

A: If I wake up with a million dollars, the first thing I am going to do is buy my mom her dream house by the beach.