Joshua Michael Love (born September 12, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who is a free agent. He played college football for

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

. He also played for the Los Angeles Rams and

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL.

Early life and high school

Love grew up in Mission Viejo, California, and initially attended

Tesoro High School Tesoro High School is a public high school in southern Orange County area of Las Flores, California, United States. Established in the fall of 2001, Tesoro is 1 of 6 regular high schools in the Capistrano Unified School District. As of the 2014� ...

before transferring to

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

after his sophomore year. He shared snaps at quarterback during his junior year but finished the season with 17 touchdown passes to just two interceptions. As a senior, Love passed for 3,199 yards and 41 touchdowns as he led the Jackrabbits to an 11–2 record and was named the

Moore League The Moore League is a high school sports league in Southern California. It comprises seven schools: public traditional high schools of the Long Beach Unified School District plus Compton High School. The league is administered by the California I ...

Offensive Player of the Year. Love was lightly recruited coming out of high school and committed to play college football at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

as a preferred walk-on.

College career

Love walked-on to the San Jose State Spartans football team and

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season and was awarded a scholarship at the end of the year. He played in all 12 of SJSU's games the following season, serving as the holder on the field goal unit and throwing passes in five games with one start, completing 31 of 60 passes for 392 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions. As a redshirt sophomore Love played in nine games with five starts, completing 54.1% of his passes for 928 yards and five touchdowns with seven interceptions. He became the Spartans' starting quarterback early during his redshirt junior season and finished the year with 1,963 yards and 14 touchdowns while completing 56.1% of his passes. Love started all of SJSU's games as a senior and was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week after completing 32 of 49 passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns in a 31–24 upset win over Arkansas. He finished the season with for 3,923 passing yards and 22 touchdowns with a 60.9% completion percentage and was named first-team All-Mountain West Conference and was the first Spartan to be named the conference Offensive Player of the Year since San Jose State joined the conference. Love finished his collegiate career with the third most passing yards in school history with 7,206 yards and seventh all-time with 43 touchdown passes.

College statistics

Professional career

Los Angeles Rams

Love signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on April 25, 2020, shortly after the conclusion of the 2020 NFL Draft. He was waived on August 25, 2020.

Carolina Panthers

Love was signed to the

practice squad on November 2, 2021. He was released on November 9.

Pittsburgh Maulers

Love was drafted in the 12th round of the 2022 USFL draft by the Pittsburgh Maulers of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). He was released on May 10, 2022.

Michigan Panthers

On May 10, 2022, Love was claimed off waivers by the

Michigan Panthers The Michigan Panthers were a professional American football team based in the Detroit, Michigan area. The Panthers competed in the United States Football League (USFL) as a member of the Western Conference and Central Division. The team played i ...

of the

(USFL). In the first game of the 2023 Michigan Panthers season, Love set the USFL record for highest completion percentage, with 90 percent of his passes having been completed. He became a free agent after the 2023 season.

Statistics

References

External links

San Jose State Spartans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Josh 1996 births Living people Players of American football from Mission Viejo, California Players of American football from Long Beach, California American football quarterbacks San Jose State Spartans football players Los Angeles Rams players Carolina Panthers players Pittsburgh Maulers (2022) players Michigan Panthers (2022) players Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni