Jordan Love can smash two longstanding NFL droughts for Utah State

Utah State isn’t exactly known for placing guys in the NFL. Sure, being a Division I football program, you can find several Aggies in the professional crowd — even big names like Bobby Wagner and everyday starters like Nick Vigil, Kyler Fackrell and Donald Penn. In all, 12 Aggies played downs in the NFL last season spanning all three phases of the game, from long-snapper Patrick Scales to Wagner to Super Bowl champion running back Darwin Thompson.

The one position lacking on the NFL stage coming from Logan for most of the league’s history, especially recent times, is quarterback. But that may change in 2020 with Jordan Love being considered as a first round pick in the NFL draft — potentially top 10 overall.

In 1964, Bill Munson made USU history as the school’s only first round pick when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, the seventh pick overall. 

Just five former Aggie quarterbacks have ever set foot on the field for a regular season: Munson, Eric Hipple, Bob Gagliano, Tony Adams and Craig Bradshaw. Bradshaw never even started in a game, and only two (Munson and Hipple) had more than a single season’s worth of starts to their name.

Gagliano was the last Aggie to play a down at quarterback in the NFL with his last snap coming in 1992 with the San Diego Chargers. It was an underwhelming game where he completed 9 of 15 passes for 125 yards.

Every other position, save kicker, has seen on-field USU representation in the 28 years since.

An even more longstanding gap in Utah State’s NFL chart is the time it’s been since an Aggie was taken in the first round. Phil Olsen, brother of the great Merlin Olsen, is the most recent first-round pick out of Logan. He was taken fourth overall a short 50 years ago in the 1970 draft.

No Aggie has even sniffed the first round since. The closest anyone has come in the last half-century is 42nd overall Rulon Jones in 1980, closely followed by Wagner who was taken 47th in 2012.

Thanks to that lengthy span, USU’s first-round pedigree is limited to four players: Merlin and Phil Olsen (third and fourth overall), Bill Munson (seventh) and MacArthur Lane (13th).