After Aaron Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets Monday,
Jordan Love of
Liberty (Bakersfield, Calif.) is expected to earn the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback job.
Love was the 26th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and has sat behind Rodgers for three full seasons. In limited action, he has 608 career passing yards with three touchdowns.
It's a similar path that Rodgers took. Rodgers was taken 24th overall in the 2005 NFL Draft and waited behind Brett Favre for three years before taking over the starting job. Nearly 60,000 passing yards later, the top job on one of the most prestigious teams in American sports belongs to Love.
Jordan Love of Liberty (Bakersfield, Calif.) is in line to take over the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback job after Aaron Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets on Monday. (Photo: David Dennis)
A multi-sport standout at Liberty, Love took over as the starting signal caller at the school as a junior in 2014. He took the Patriots to the CIF Central Section Division 1 championship game and finished with a 10-3 record. On the season he threw for 1,930 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He added five touchdowns on the ground.
As a senior Love stood at 6-foot-3 and improved his numbers again. He eclipsed 2,000 passing yards on the season, cut down on his interceptions and helped Liberty win its first Central Section banner in school history. In the title game, he threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns while putting up additional 79 yards and a score on the ground in a 56-21 win over Clovis.
Despite the success, Love had just a handful of college offers to pick from and went with Utah State over FCS programs Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado and Sacramento State.
At Utah State Love won the starting job midway through his redshirt freshman season in 2017 before taking over the job full time for the 2018 season.
In the 2018 season opener in front of more than 70,000 fans at No. 11 Michigan State, the Aggies nearly pulled off the upset before falling 38-31. Love had 319 passing yards against future NFL defensive backs Justin Layne and Khari Willis.
Utah State piled up 11 wins that season and finished ranked No. 22 as Love threw for 3,567 yards and 32 touchdowns against six interceptions. He added seven rushing touchdowns.
During the 2019 season Love took Utah State to another bowl game and finished with 3,402 passing yards and 20 touchdown passes. He finished his Aggie career with over 8,600 yards and 60 touchdowns through the air.
