Love Staying Focused With One Month Until Training Camp

Jordan Love and the quarterbacks will report for training camp on July 21. “The urgency,” he said, “is coming up fast.”

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Jun 21, 2023 8:13 AM EDT
Original:
Jun 21, 2023

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love went from Green Bay Packers minicamp to coaching a football camp in Paris.

Call it le calme avant la tempête.

That’s the calm before the storm in French.

In exactly one month – July 21 – Love will report to training camp. It will be the most important camp of his life and the brightest spotlight of his life leading into the biggest season of his life.

“It’s kind of the external things that I can’t control that might be a little bit different being the starter now,” Love said at the end of minicamp. “But, for me, I try and keep the main thing the main thing, try and not do too much in my life where I’m pulled so many ways and can’t relax and settle down and being able to focus on what I need to focus on.

“I’m just trying to focus on this year and not be doing too much outside and getting pulled in different directions and things like that. But, obviously, life changes a little bit when you go from being a backup to a starter, different opportunities, things like that.”

Love, obviously, isn’t just going from backup to starter. He’s replacing a legend, Aaron Rodgers. It would seem to be an impossible task, if Rodgers hadn’t made it look so easy when he replaced Brett Favre.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of changes,” Love said. “There’s a lot more opportunities that pop up and things like that. I try to keep the main thing the main thing and I let people know I’m trying to focus on ball right now. Obviously, there’s a lot going on in my life. I want to focus on football going into this first year of being a starter and locking in on that.”

After running the show through most of the offseason in 2021 and 2022, Love went home from those minicamps knowing he’d be playing second fiddle to Rodgers when he returned for training camp.

Not this time. Love will be returning for training camp as the leader of the band.

Jordan Love (Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images)

“It’s definitely a little more fun,” Love said with a wide smile. “OTAs, I was doing most of this anyways in the past, but I’m enjoying this. It’s definitely a little bit more fun.”

OTAs and minicamp were the carefree days for Love. Jaire Alexander jumped into Love’s final media session to proclaim him the “best QB in the league.” That’s nonsense for now, of course, but it was a sign of the belief in the locker room that Love is going to be up to the challenge.

“I’ve seen where he’s at mentally,” receiver Christian Watson said. “His knowledge of the game and our offense and his mindset of what he wants to accomplish and what we want to accomplish as a team, he has that standard set in his mind and what he wants to accomplish.

“There’s pressure that comes with just playing in this league. It’s a big stage and, obviously, a huge stage for him being one of 32 quarterbacks who are starting in this league. He knows that there’s pressure, I know that there’s pressure but, at the end of the day, he knows what he’s capable of and he knows the work that he’s put in over these past three years has only prepared him to do what he’s going to do going forward. I think he just leans on his preparation and he understands who he is as a man and as a football player.”

The pressure will be ratcheted up when Love leads the Packers onto the practice field for the first time on July 26. The pressure will go up another notch for Family Night on Aug. 5 as well as joint practices against the Bengals and Patriots and whatever preseason action he sees the following three weeks.

And then comes Week 1 at the Chicago Bears on Sept. 10.

Love isn’t focused on any of that. His focus is on today and getting himself in the best possible position for success.

“I think the urgency and the urgency that we need to get ready for training camp is coming up fast,” Love said. “When we come back, we’ll be heading into the season. So, I think that part changes a little bit, knowing that you’re the guy and, obviously, Aaron’s not coming back. But, for the most part, training and everything like that, it’s the same.”