Love Went From ‘Looking Like a Baby Deer’ to Elite Prospect

The coach who saw Jordan Love rise to stardom reflects on the Green Bay Packers' No. 1 pick's winding path.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2015, David Yost was an assistant coach at Washington State. Its hot quarterback recruit, Ian Book, had decommitted and chosen Notre Dame. That left Mike Leach’s Cougars scrambling for another quarterback. Leach’s staff zeroed in on a group of about eight quarterbacks. One of those was Jordan Love.

“We weren’t sure if he was a Power-5 guy,” said Yost, now the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Utah State. “He was a tall, lanky guy that looked like had a good arm but you didn’t sit there and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, he has high-level arm talent.’ You’re like, ‘He looks good but he looks real skinny.’ He kind looked like a baby deer when he was running. You could tell he hadn’t grown into himself yet. I think he was 180 pounds at that time.”

As National Signing Day approached, the Cougars took yet another look at Love but ultimately turned elsewhere. Love, in turn, stuck with his commitment to Utah State – the only FBS school to offer a scholarship.

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It’s funny how things work out. After spending the 2016 season at Oregon, Yost was hired by Utah State in 2017 to be the Aggies’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Matt Wells.

By that point, under the supervision of strength coach Dave Scholz, Love had gotten up to 210 pounds. The additional weight translated to additional RPMs on his passes.

“He was extremely gifted throwing the football when I got there, and he just kept getting better and better,” Yost said. “The more we practiced, the better he got.”

By midway through the 2017 season, Love had become Utah State’s quarterback. He had three “wow” games, as Yost put it. He used those as a springboard for 2018. Those “wow” games – and “wow” days – happened with increasing consistency as he put together the mental and physical sides of the game to turn in a brilliant season.

“He took a different approach,” Yost said. “As soon as we got done with that 2017 season and went into that 2018 spring, he was more about evaluating himself on how the offense played. How he looked at football changed. What we did on offense is a little different than some. He got to check a lot. His first season starting, he did it on some plays but there was a lot more plays where I would call it and he just ran it. The next year was a lot more of I was recommending plays and then he was putting us in good plays. That’s where he really took off.”

The taking off ended after that breakout 2018. After the season, Wells was named head coach at Texas Tech. He brought Yost along as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Through the made-for-TV nature of the Mountain West Conference schedule, Yost figured he watched Love five or six times last year. With a new coaching staff, new offense and new supporting cast due to graduation, Love struggled in 2019. He went from 32 touchdowns, six interceptions and 8.6 yards per attempt in 2018 to 20 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and 7.2 yards per attempt in 2019.

“There were times when he did things that I remember him doing,” Yost said. “A couple of his interceptions, it’s like he went through the progression, he got to that second, third, fourth read and it’s not there and then, all of a sudden, ‘Ah, I’ll give it a shot.’ There was a little hesitation, and a couple of those didn’t work out in his favor. I think he was trying to probably do a little more than he needed to on some of that stuff.

“I think he felt the pressure of being an NFL prospect at quarterback and everybody was talking about him and he needs to be great. He had a lot of turnover on offense. We graduated nine seniors who were starters from his group. I think he took a lot of that – he always did anyway. He didn’t look at his numbers from passing or yardage or touchdowns. It was more like, ‘How was the offense? Were we good on offense?’ If we were good on offense, he felt like he was doing his job. When we weren’t good on offense, he wasn’t doing his job. He took responsibility for the 11 guys, not just the one, and I think he probably continued that this year and felt like he needed to do more to help out all the new guys he had around him.”

One poor season didn’t impact the thoughts of the Senior Bowl’s Jim Nagy, Yost or, obviously, the Packers, who moved up to take him in the first round the NFL Draft to acquire their quarterback of the future. The decision-making that impressed Yost in 2018 and the arm talent that’s impressed everyone didn’t disappear in 2019. Better days are ahead, with Nagy predicting Love would see more open receivers in the NFL than in 2019. The spindly kid with one FBS recruiting offer tipped the scales at 224 pounds at the Scouting Combine. Love, who won’t turn 22 until Nov. 2, still hasn’t filled out his 6-foot-4 frame.

“He still probably hasn’t turned into a man yet,” Yost said. “As he matures, he’s going to be a big, strong kid that can really throw the football. He always had a really good arm and he always relied on it but, as he got stronger, it jumped. What he could do with a football, it’s just different.”