he was born in cincinnati, ohio to maxine love on march 19, 1986. love attended withrow high school, where he played football as a quarterback during his last two school years. as a senior in 2004, the team posted a 10–1 record and secured the southwest ohio public league championship. that season, love threw for 2,094 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for 970 yards and 14 touchdowns. he was subsequently named an all-city and all-southwest ohio district player, ohio north-south and ohio east-west all-star, and the withrow high school most valuable player. love was also named the city offensive player of the year and the "cincinnati enquirer" division iii player of the year.