After five seasons playing with the Spartans, senior starting quarterback Josh Love has become a supportive leader for San Jose State football, on and off the field.
Senior offensive lineman Troy Kowalski, who has lived with Love for three years and has spent time with him almost every day, said Love has demonstrated more leadership every season.
“[Love] was always a positive person but he was kind of quiet. But over the years, he has gotten more involved and he has been more talkative,” Kowalski said.
He said they became close by spending time together after Love joined the football team.
“He’s just one of those kids that always has a smile on his face. So you kind of can’t not notice him,” Kowalski said.
Head coach Brent Brennan said Love has led the team through tough seasons with constant positivity.
“Teams change from year to year but last season and certainly this season and all through the off season, he has absolutely been one of our most consistent leaders and consistent voices,” he said.
Love’s performance as a quarterback has improved season after season at SJSU, and Kowalski said Love has been very accurate so far in the 2019 season.
“Not many mistakes that I have seen so far this year, and let’s hopefully keep it that way,” he said.
In 2018, Love completed 56.1% of passes thrown for 1,963 yards and 14 touchdowns, up from 2017’s 54.1% of completed passes for 928 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Love started and played in eight games in 2018, and started five but saw action in nine games in 2017.
Coach Brennan said Love’s monumental growth comes from his increased self-control and ability to make smart plays.
“Our first year here, he was so eager to make a play that sometimes he would force the ball into places that he shouldn’t,” Brennan said.
Knowing when to play fast and when to slow down is helping him make better plays, Love said.
Love’s family background inspired what he does today, he said, both in sports and in his Christian faith.
After learning sports from his father as he grew up, Love said his father helped him get started as a quarterback and find the right ways to train.
After growing up in Christian household, Love wanted to continue spending time with a faith-based community. He meets up with fellow SJSU athletes for Bible studies once a week.
“Athletes are going through the same obstacles as each other, so having people to lean on and to tell your story to is awesome,” Love said.
“But to always give God the glory is the main focus.”
Although Coach Brennan and Kowalski had not seen Love lead through his faith, they said he led the team in much more than just football.
Love helped organize what he called “a life-changing presentation,” a visit and talk from Mothers Against Drunk Driving on Sept. 9.
Organizing that event is one of many ways Love brings the team closer outside of football, including encouraging other players to join him for volunteer work with San Jose State’s Beyond Football program.
Coach Brennan and Kowalski also gave Love credit for leading the team through strong academic performances.
Love said Brennan had stressed the importance of getting a degree and made school the focus for the team.
Kowalski said Love takes school seriously and usually studies with his classmates and teammates.
Each player with a GPA of 3.0 or higher gets their picture hung up on a wall in the Simpkins Stadium Center on South Campus, and Brennan said that Love is on that wall every semester.
“I am always interested in making sure players are being responsible in the classroom environment and respectful of their classmates, respectful of their professors and not on their phone and not with their headphones in but there to do the work and take advantage of the academic opportunity that is in front of them,” he said.
Love said the brotherhood on the team is his favorite part of playing for the Spartans and that every member pushes the others to improve and help
one another.
“I had never been in something like this before,” Love said. “I feel like any guy on the team I can go hang out with.”
