Riding into this season Jordan Love was a big question mark, could he be better than Tua? Love is a 6’4, 225 Lb quarterback from Bakersfield, California and has played four seasons with the Utah State Aggies. Scouts already believe he has good pocket awareness and climbs/rolls out as needed to extend the pass. Whenever the ball is snapped Love makes a quick decision with the ball, and has shown great ball placement when passing against a zone coverage. In his first game this year Love would torch Wake Forest’s defense for a season-high 416 yards and three touchdowns while completing 69% of his passes.
Then four weeks later vs. LSU Love would complete 50% of his passes for 130 yards and three interceptions. Some of those passes just came out very ugly, and hard to catch. I would also “Love” to see him push the ball down the field a bit more, as most of his good passes were under 15 yards on the tape I watched.
With scouts still being up in the air on Jordan Love’s ability to perform at the NFL level, there have been reports of him contemplating a graduate transfer to a larger school. His NFL Draft grade is said to loom large on whether he transfers or goes straight to the NFL. It was listed that Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Houston have all been viewed as potential landing spots for the former Aggie. While these are some schools thrown around, I think there are a few other places that would be great for Jordan to take his talents to.
Oklahoma
I don’t think we could talk transfer quarterbacks without bringing up the Oklahoma Sooners. Lincoln Riley is one of the best offensive minds in football, and has been able to take three different quarterbacks to the CFB Playoff with basically no defense at all. If Jordan Love really is worried about his draft stock, pairing with Lincoln Riley could spell the best for his future as an NFL quarterback.
Oklahoma will lose CeeDee Lamb but return top recruits Theo Wease, Jadon Haselwood, and Trejan Bridges to reload this potent offense. The Sooners will have yet another year with Alex Grinch reshaping their defense. Not to mention the national spot light that will come with being the quarterback for the Sooners.
Oregon
Jake Bentley just confirmed he will be transferring to the University of Utah. Justin Herbert has rekindled Oregon’s attractiveness as a football program, and left a great structure for Love to step into if he would choose to. It just feels right for college football.
Oregon is going to have one of, if not the best, defenses in the Pac-12 and is returning plenty of talent on both sides of the ball. Penei Sewell could be the top prospect for the 2021 NFL Draft; which should give the Ducks another amazing offensive line to protect Love. On top of that, he would be able to remain closer to home, and stay on the West coast.
Ole Miss
This one is a little more of a stretch but with Lane Kiffin stepping onto the scene in Oxford; Ole Miss could be a great landing spot for the potential 1st round prospect. Kiffin was able to expand Jalen Hurts game in his little time at Alabama, and I think he could help Love grow as well.
If he wants to prove what he can do under center, going to the SEC and shredding those defenses will get the NFL’s attention. Á la Joe Burrow, and what he was able to do with his draft stock this season. This is an offense that has averaged nearly 300 yards passing the past four seasons, and that includes this season filled with underwhelming Ole Miss’ quarterback play.