‘I Wanted to Quit:’ How Jordan Love Became Quarterback of the Packers

It wasn’t just the death of his father that made Love want to step away from football. When he was a freshman, he was always the smallest kid on the field. At 5-foot-6 and not even 140 pounds, he wasn’t dreaming of even getting a college offer, let alone starting in the NFL. He couldn’t even get the starting job on the freshman team. Going into his sophomore year, he told his mom he wanted to quit. 

That’s when she made a deal with him that kept him on the field and put him on his eventual path to the NFL. She asked him to play for one more year. He agreed, saying he “couldn’t say no” to his mom. He played through his sophomore season on the JV team, had fun with his friends, and used football as a means to forget about everything for a few hours. 

Junior year, he finally hit his growth spurt and made the varsity team as the backup quarterback. He got his chance to start a few weeks in, but he didn’t feel like he did enough to turn any heads. His Packers teammates were surprised to hear that a kid from California ended up at Utah State, but it ended up being the biggest school that gave him an offer. 

Once he finally made it to the NFL, Love felt like he already knew the drill. He was a QB2 once again.  This time was different, as he got to learn from one of the greatest the game has ever seen in Aaron Rodgers.  

After three years alongside Rodgers, it was finally Love’s turn. When he finally got his first start at Lambeau Field against the Saints in Week 3 of 2023, nothing was going right. The Packers were down 17-0 at halftime and couldn’t get anything going on offense. 

In that moment, Love took the time to reflect on how he got here. From a scrawny kid wanting to quit in high school to trying to lead a comeback as the starting quarterback of a storied NFL franchise. What would have happened had he quit, or if he never hit his growth spurt and got his chance to start?  

Coming out of halftime, things started to click. The game flowed, everyone started to connect, and Love led a spirited comeback, winning 18-17. He said that he felt like he “proved something that day. Not just to the Lambeau crowd, or to Packers Nation, but really to myself.” 

Love had a million reasons not to be here, which, of course, is the meaning behind the headline off his story.  

He attributed his success from high school all the way to the NFL to a couple of things, but everything came down to the people in his life. He stated that “without that brotherhood of football, I never would have made it.” His support system is what got him to where he is. He had teammates and coaches that believed in him and helped bring him out of the darkness that his father’s death cast on him. 

On top of all the support he has from coaches, teammates, his family, and Packers Nation as a whole, it all comes back to that seemingly small agreement he made with his mom. Just one more year. One more year that turned into starting on the varsity team, getting a college offer, getting drafted in the first round, leading his team to the playoffs, and eventually signing a $220 million contract to stay in Green Bay. 

In the locker room this week, Love explained why it was so important to share his story. 

“It’s my stories,” he said. “There’s been real stuff that’s happened in my life. I think it’s very cool to be able to share that, and I think there’s some stuff in my story that I think a lot of people relate to and been in similar situations. I think to be able to spread that and have that message of being able to keep going and whatever things people might be going through, just keep going and keep pushing through is really the message of it.”