Whenever a franchise loses its starting quarterback, it goes into a complete overhaul mode. It often takes years before they can pick themselves back up again. But it wasn’t the same case for the Green Bay Packers, who, after 18 years, traded their shot-caller to the Big Apple. Jordan Love took over the helm and not only led the Acme Packers to the playoffs in his first year as a starter but also defeated the Dallas Cowboys with a two-digit lead. The former Aggies star is now the darling of the Cheeseheads, but his journey to reach this milestone came with a lot of sacrifices, even contemplating hanging up his cleats.
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During his high school years, while he was just beginning to get a grip on the sport, Jordan Love tragically lost his father to suicide. He was only 14 years old. During his recent appearance on ‘The Pivot Podcast‘, Love revealed that he had struggled to cope with this untimely loss, and said that he could have never imagined such an incident happening to him. His father, Orbin, was a police officer who taught everything the future NFL star knew. But he was more than that; Orbin was a ‘superhero‘ from all perspectives. So, when Jordan lost his father, he no longer felt the desire to play football.
Just before fall practice in 2013, Jordan told his mom Anna that he no longer wished to play football, according to Distractify. He was just 5 feet 6 inches in height, a backup quarterback, who barely got playing time, and even gave playing receiver a go. But nothing was working for him. Anna understood where his son was coming from; however, she pleaded with Jordan to play for just one more year and see where it went. And the rest, as they say, is history.
“That was a difficult time, obviously — losing my father,” Love said during the interview. “That was tough being 14 years old — you know the man I looked up to, the man who raised me. Losing a parent; was very tough for me and my family. That year, I was thinking about quitting football, like I was a backup quarterback, playing wide receiver — stuff wasn’t really going my way. And I was like I might have to give it up. But my mom, knowing that my dad’s dream was for me to play football, me to be an athlete, he was always the one out front, throwing the football with me, teaching me how to throw, teaching me how to catch — she’s the one who really pushed me and said, ‘stick it out another year and see.‘”
Love did exactly what his mother urged him to do, and by the end of that year at Liberty High School, he earned the starting role. He attributed his success to his mom and his three sisters, who always had his back. He also noted that he was taught at a very young age about adversity, which helped him mature a bit early, something that helped him move on.
Jordan Love Had a Growth Spurt Before College
In his freshman year, Jordan Love was just 5’6″, but in his defense, his parents started him early — he was almost a year younger than everyone in his class. He labeled himself a ‘late bloomer,” to which co-host and former NFL LB Channing Crowder quipped, “late bloomer? b*tch, you was a midget.”
Jordan, however, had the last laugh. Although he started as the smallest guy in his friend group, by the time the new-starting QB became a senior, he was taller than everyone else. Love revealed that his confidence wasn’t ‘super-high’, as he was not only a late-bloomer but also came out as a two-star prospect, and he even tried his hand at basketball. But when the growth spurt hit, he knew he could turn it around, and rightfully so. After spending more and more time on camps, 7v7 with Ground Zero, and that’s when offers started rolling in, eventually leading to his selection by Utah State.
In the 2020 NFL draft, Love was selected by the Packers in the first round as a 26th overall pick. He started just one game in his first three years and learned a lot from the league’s arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers. After a stellar 2023 season, the 25-year-old QB will now aim to lead his club to even greater heights.
