Jeremiyah Love

Summary

Jeremiyah Love (20 years old) is a junior who has played his entire career at Notre Dame with no transfers. In 2025, Love exploded for 1,372 rushing yards with 18 rushing touchdowns on 199 carries while adding 27 receptions for 280 yards and three receiving scores, breaking Notre Dame’s single-season total touchdown record with 21 and ranking among the nation’s top offensive playmakers. Love is the recipient of the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back, unanimous All-American honors, a Disney Spirit Award, and finalist status for the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell, and Walter Camp awards, cementing his status as one of college football’s elite. Off the field, he is widely regarded as a high-character leader with a strong work ethic, community involvement, and no known significant off-field incidents. Love has generally been durable through his career with no major injuries, underscoring his toughness and reliability for the Fighting Irish.

Strengths

• Gas Pedal: Accelerates quickly and has the top-end speed to turn small creases into chunk or home-run plays. Reaches top speed quickly after redirecting, minimizing wasted steps. and stresses defenses horizontally on outside zone, toss, and stretch plays.

• Teleporter: Uses jump cuts, spin moves, and sudden direction changes to make defenders miss in space. Brings instant juice to the offense, forcing defenses to respect speed on every touch.

• Psychic Readings: Presses the line of scrimmage with patience and shows anticipation and feel for cutback lanes before they develop.

• Receiver at RB: Flashes natural hands and the ability to create after the catch on screens and checkdowns, drawing Reggie Bush and Bijan Robinson comparisons. Willing to challenge defenders one-on-one rather than simply stepping out of bounds.

Weaknesses

• Sand in the Pants: Can be knocked off his line by arm tackles and doesn’t consistently fall forward in traffic. More effective on the perimeter than in tight interior lanes.

• Pass Protection.: Technique and recognition are still evolving in pass protection, limiting third-down reliability.

• Pad Level: Will run upright at times, reducing power and contact balance. His speed-based running style can lead to looser carriage in the open field.

• Fire in the Hole: Can bounce plays outside prematurely instead of trusting interior blocking, showing an over-reliance on his athleticism to escape rather than the construct of the play.

Outlook

Love is a versatile runner/receiver and ultimate home run-hitting weapon who boasts the agility to make defenders miss in short spaces. Love may not show work horse upside as a consistent between-the-tackles grinder, but his ability to operate as a receiver will make him a PPR darling in future fantasy leagues. He projects best in balanced offensive schemes that mix inside zone, outside zone, and power concepts, particularly those that utilize running backs as multi-dimensional threats in the run game and in play-action passing designs. Love can easily be considered by many as the overall most explosive and sure-fire prospect in this draft class and some may have him as their #1 overall player on their draft board. Despite his near-generational prospect assessment, Love may fall due to positional value - but he won’t slide far, as most agree that Kansas City at 9 is his absolute floor in this class.

Pro Comparison: Jahmyr Gibbs

Team Fits: NYJ, WAS, NO, KC, DAL