Jordan Love is the backup quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.
Expect him to one day be the starting quarterback of the Detroit Lions.
That’s the history of Utah State quarterbacks. The Aggies have produced four quarterbacks who have started games in the NFL and three of them won games for the Lions.
Bill Munson was the first. He arrived in Detroit in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams in 1968 and started 48 games over the next eight seasons, winning 24 of them. The Lions drafted Eric Hipple in the fourth round in 1980 and he started 57 games over the next nine seasons, winning 28 of them. Then journeyman Bob Gagliano signed with the Lions as a free agent in 1989, his fourth team in two different leagues, and started 11 games over the next two seasons, winning six of them.
The only Utah State quarterback who did not take snaps with the Lions was Tony Adams, who was a tri-MVP of the World Football League’s only complete season in 1974. He spent five post-WFL seasons as a backup quarterback in Kansas City, starting 10 games and winning only one of them. But Gagliano also spent two seasons in Kansas City, so maybe that will be Love’s next stop.
Munson was the seventh overall pick of the Rams in the 1964 draft and Love the 26th overall choice of the Packers in 2020. Munson played 16 seasons so he would pencil in as the quarterback on Utah State’s all-time NFL team. The Aggies have produced one Hall of Famer, defensive tackle Merlin Olsen.
Here is Utah State’s all-time NFL team:
QB—Bill Munson, 16 seasons, 27-34-5 record, 84 TD passes
HB—Altie Taylor, 8 season, 4,308 yards, 30 touchdowns
FB—MacArthur Lane, Pro Bowl, Led NFL in receiving in 1976 (66 catches)
WR—Kevin Curtis, 8 seasons, 253 receptions, 21 touchdowns
WR—Ken Burrow, 5 seasons, 152 receptions, 21 touchdowns
TE—Chris Cooley, 2 Pro Bowls, 9 seasons, 429 receptions, 33 TDs
T—Donald Penn, 3 Pro Bowls, 13 seasons, 189 starts
T—Len Rohde, Pro Bowl, 15 seasons, 179 starts
G—Jim Hough, 9 seasons, 75 starts
G—Mike Connelly, 9 seasons, 71 starts
C—Tyler Larsen, 6 seasons, 21 starts
DE—Lionel Aldridge, 11 seasons, 69 1/2 sacks, 2 Super Bowl rings
DE—Rulon Jones, 2 Pro Bowls, 9 seasons, 73 ½ sacks
DT—Merlin Olsen, Hall of Fame
DT—Greg Kragen, Pro Bowl, 13 seasons, 28 ½ sacks
OLB—Al Smith, 10 seasons, 124 starts, 7 takeaways
*-MLB—Bobby Wagner, 8 Pro Bowls, 11 seasons, 26 ½ sacks, 11 interceptions
OLB—Travis LaBoy, 7 seasons, 29 ½ sacks
CB—Earsell Macbee, 5 seasons, 60 starts, 15 interceptions
CB—Patrick Allen, 7 seasons, 72 starts, 7 interceptions
S—Cornell Green, 5 Pro Bowls, 13 seasons, 35 interceptions
S—Ocie Austin, 4 seasons, 16 starts, 4 interceptions
K—Jim Turner, 2 Pro Bowls, 16 seasons, 304 field goals, 1,439 points
P—Louie Aguilar, 10 seasons, 758 punts, 41.2-yard average
KR—Roy Shivers, 7 seasons, 51 kickoff returns, 1 TD, 24-yard average
ST—Louie Giammona, 6 seasons, 8 starts
*-LS—Patrick Scales, 8 seasons, 98 games
*-Still active
