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Utah State QB Jordan Love has certainly hurt his draft stock with his performance in 2019. Coming into the 2019 season, Love was seen as one of the top quarterback prospects for the 2020 NFL draft as the Bakersfield, California native was coming off a 2018 season where he recorded over 3500 yards and 39 touchdowns with only six interceptions and was named a second-team All-MWC selection.
It was only natural that continued dominance was expected from Love in 2019 as is evident from his place among the Maxwell and Davey O'Brien award watchlists.
Instead, Love's 2019 has fallen well short of expectations as the redshirt junior has seen dips in nearly every statistical category.
Assuming the 6-5 Aggies reach a bowl game, Love has two games remaining on the season. However, with only 14 touchdowns on the season, Love is on pace to have less than half of the touchdowns as he did last year.
Love has also thrown 15 interceptions thus far, more than double his total from last year and has yet to use his dual-threat ability to get into the end zone as he has yet to record a rushing touchdown in 2019 after registering seven last year. Love's accuracy has also decreased from 64 percent to 61.4.
Last year, the Aggies were an 11-win team and were one of the most explosive offenses in the FBS. This year, with former offensive coordinator David Yost off to Texas Tech, both Love and the Aggies as a whole have taken a major step back.
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Regardless of Love's lackluster 2019, it's hard to argue that the QB doesn't have the talent to succeed in the right system. The redshirt junior has prototypical NFL size at 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds and has proven his ability to extend plays with his legs.
Additionally, Love has one of the strongest arms in the 2020 class and can wow scouts with his arm talent. On the other hand, Love has been criticized for his lack of awareness, and for being too aggressive. The major dip in production is worrisome but at the same time, Love doesn't have the same talent, both on the field and on the coaching staff, as he did last year and it may be difficult for scouts to decide whether to put more weight into his spectacular 2018 or his lackluster 2019.
Also, playing in the Mountain West Conference, Love hasn't exactly faced a ton of NFL-caliber talent. In a week five matchup against the current No. 1 team in LSU, Love was completely held in check by the LSU defense completing only 15 of his 30 passes for 130 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions in a 42-6 blowout LSU win.
Most draft websites have Love between the No. 6 and No. 10 ranked QB prospect in the 2020 class — numbers that were certainly better before the season.
Jordan Love has all the physical tools to be a successful NFL QB and will probably impress scouts with his raw ability come to NFL combine time. At the same time, there are very legitimate concerns with Love's game and it'll be interesting to see where the redshirt junior lands in the upcoming draft.
