Love brings experience into his junior season for Southeast Missouri State football team

Justin Love hasn't played a game of his junior season, but he already ranks among Southeast Missouri State's most experienced defensive performers.

That's what happens when you receive a starting assignment the first game of your true freshman campaign.

"I was pretty surprised," recalled Love of a contest that took place nearly two years ago.

Maybe surprising then, but not any more as Love has been a fixture for the Redhawks at defensive end. He'll enter this season with 9.5 career tackles for loss, tops among all current Southeast players.

"He's done a good job for us since he's been here," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "The big thing, when a player steps in from day one, they have a lot of room for improvement. His best football is still ahead of him.

Southeast defender Justin Love reacts after tackling Eastern Kentucky quarterback T.J. Pryor during a game last season at Houck Stadium. Love is the Redhawks' top returning tackler among the linemen. (Southeast Missourian file)

"You always worry about somebody being complacent when they start right away, but he's never been that way. He's a really good kid who works hard."

Hard work, said Love, has been the key to whatever success he has had with the Redhawks and for the improvement he hopes to make in the future.

"When I came in I wasn't looking to start. I was looking to play and give 110 percent effort whatever I do," Love said. "All I've ever known is to work hard. The work ethic you have to have to be successful. ... That's the key to everything, in life and on the field. You have to work."

Love started seven of Southeast's 11 games during his rookie season. He finished with 30 tackles and was third on the team with 5.5 tackles for loss. He also had one quarterback sack.

That led to an even bigger role for Love during the Redhawks' record-setting 2010 campaign. He missed the opener against Ball State with an ankle injury, then started the final 11 contests.

Love ended his sophomore season with 42 tackles, making him Southeast's top returning tackler among linemen. He was fourth on the squad in tackles for loss with four while adding two sacks, five quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery.

"He's very active. He's fast, and he's quick," Samuel said.

Samuel said Love came out of a program at Central High School in St. Joseph, Mo., that emphasized many of the same techniques used by Southeast.

"He was trained in a lot of the same techniques we use," Samuel said. "He understood the position."

What Love didn't arrive with was a lot of weight, at least not for his position. The 6-foot-4 Love carried about 205 pounds when he reported to his first preseason camp.

Love has made a concentrated effort to put on weight and it has paid off. He said he now weighs about 240 pounds, although he is listed as 205 on Southeast's roster.

"You just have to keep working in the weight room," said Love, who credited Southeast's strength coaches for much of his physical development.

Love said he initially was concerned about gaining too much weight because he thought it might detract from his speed and quickness, two of his strengths. But that hasn't been the case.

"It's all about eating right," Love said.

Love said being a part of last season was special. The Redhawks won the program's first Ohio Valley Conference title and earned the program's first playoff berth on any level.

"That was a great feeling, but at the same time we have to forget about it so we can achieve our goals for this year," he said.

Those goals include another OVC championship, another playoff berth and more. Love said that's all realistic even though Southeast lost 14 starters, including several All-Americans.

"We know what we have to do to be a great team," Love said. "It's the same as last year, if everybody gets on one page and everybody has one heartbeat. We can go as high as we want to. We have the talent."

Noteworthy

* Southeast will have its second and final scrimmage at 1 p.m. Saturday at Houck Stadium. That will mark the end of the Redhawks' two-week preseason camp. Classes begin Monday.