Scouting Report On Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love

Notre Dame superstar RB Jeremiyah Love, a rising junior for the Fighting Irish, is one of the top NFL draft prospects for the 2026 cycle. Love is the consensus RB1 heading into the college football season and is garnering Heisman Trophy hype as Notre Dame looks to return to the College Football Playoff. Stepping into a starting role last year, he ran for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns on a 6.9 yards per carry clip. He added 237 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver, becoming one of the most explosive and dangerous offensive weapons in the country.

Standing at 6-0, 206 pounds, Love is a little undersized. He’s an otherworldly athlete despite this, with elite, game-breaking speed. Just watch this play:

Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love is pure speed. Has the patience to let his blocks develop and just glides past all the defenders. Really remarkable how fluidly he accelerates.

— Ethan Woodie (@ethanwoodienfl.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T21:30:52.512Z

The run concept here isn’t complicated — it’s a gap-scheme, downhill attack. Each lineman has their assignment and will push them off the line to create space. When Love gets the ball, he’s reading a series of gaps, almost like a quarterback going through progressions, and how a couple defenders are playing them. The left tackle folds the edge defender back inside, allowing the left guard to climb to the second level and get a kick-out block on the linebacker. Once Love sees daylight, he flies through the line backside just past the center like a bullet train, and no one is catching him in a footrace.

Love’s fluidity as he accelerates really impresses me. He’s almost gliding, visually exerting less than the defenders as he blows by them. Not only that, but Love’s vision as a ball-carrier is elite. He’s always scanning for the best gap to attack, but he doesn’t pass up on easy yards in search of the home-run play. Here’s another example:

Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love's vision and burst are on display here. No wasted motion, he follows his blocks and hits the hole as it opens with no hesitation. Lightning-quick jump cut to free himself and watch how he just eats the space in front of him.

— Ethan Woodie (@ethanwoodienfl.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T21:28:34.303Z

This is an inside zone run, one where Love is free to pick his spots as the play develops. All the offensive linemen are moving together to the left and downhill, displacing the defense and creating a clear hole for Love to run through. However, the safety overruns it, leaving a backside cut on the other side of the center wide open. The lateral quickness and explosiveness Love possesses is clearly evident on this play. That is a world-class jump cut, no wasted motion. Just one foot in the ground and an instant change of direction. Once he makes it to the second level, he doesn’t waste time dancing either. He eats up the space in front of him and challenges the defense to recover and stop him.

Here’s another example. Watch how quickly Love leaves the safety flat-footed, despite taking a decent angle to the ball:

Quintessential play from Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love. Simple zone run, finds the hole and explodes through it with ease. Once he hits the sideline, it's lights out.

— Ethan Woodie (@ethanwoodienfl.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T21:04:36.619Z

Love torches that poor defender — he never stood a chance. This is an outsize zone run executed to perfection. The line does its job, stretching out the defense laterally and allowing Love to find the best opportunity. Once he’s in the open field, he has a dizzying array of moves to put on defenders. Hesitations, spins, stiff-arms, and more. Here, his speed was enough. He caught the defender trying to slow down and burst to the sideline, where it was game over.

Love isn’t just pure speed, though. He plays well in traffic and has deceptive strength. Watch this goal-line play:

Contact balance and fighting through traffic aren't what Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love is known for, but he runs as hard as anyone. Watch this power concept goal line run: Love reads the blocks, cuts behind the guard, and carries a defender across the goal line.

— Ethan Woodie (@ethanwoodienfl.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T22:16:45.121Z

This is another gap-scheme run, and it showcases a little bit of everything I’ve been talking about. As the play develops, he cuts in front of his guard at the last moment, leaving several defenders out of the play. When a safety wraps him up, he doesn’t slow down, keeping those legs churning and carrying the would-be tackler with him across the goal line.

Love’s leg drive is impressive, especially for a back in a lower weight class. He scored a touchdown in every single game of Notre Dame’s season last year, a truly remarkable feat. That level of consistency is an important part of Love’s profile, as is the versatility with which he scored. Everyone’s seen the long, breakaway runs, including a 98-yarder in the College Football Playoff against Indiana. But just as often, he was churning out the tough yards, fighting for first downs to keep the offense on schedule, and plowing through arm tackles to score inside the five.

As a receiver, Love has some work to do, but the potential is there. When he catches the ball, he turns into a runner immediately, securing the catch and keeping his eyes upfield. He knows what to do in open space, using his full bag of tricks to maximize yards after the catch. Here’s a fun example:

Fun clip showcasing Love as a receiver. Simple flat route out of the backfield, soft hands to secure the catch and a quick turn upfield. Can't beat a good hurdle, either.

— Ethan Woodie (@ethanwoodienfl.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T00:17:19.724Z

Simple flat route out of the backfield. The offense gets all the action moving to the right before Love releases backside, where he’s got one defender to beat. Love’s soft, confident hands are on display here, as he catches the ball cleanly and looks to make a play upfield. Everyone loves a good hurdle.

That said, Love does need to diversify as a receiver this year. His route tree is pretty rudimentary, and Notre Dame didn’t ask him to do much in that department. They still might not, but he’s got time to work on it, either way.

Ball security is one of Love’s greatest strengths. He had zero fumbles on 166 carries last year, a trend he’ll look to continue this season. He’s not being used as heavily as first-round running backs usually are, but NFL teams might view that as a good thing, as there’s a school of thought that more wear and tear on prospects is a negative. Love has avoided heavy usage thus far in college.

Lastly, Love has some inherent limitations as a pass blocker, but I like the technique I’ve seen on tape. Here’s a clip:

This isn't a pass blocking rep, but it's exactly the kind of technique you want to see on a kick-out block. Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love arrives with his head up, squares up, and initiates contact rather than waiting for the defender to make the first move.

— Ethan Woodie (@ethanwoodienfl.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T22:25:33.275Z

This is a run blocking rep, not a pass blocking one, but it’s a great view of what I’m talking about. Love arrives with his head up and doesn’t duck his head to lead with the crown of his helmet, like many backs do when taking on bigger defenders. Not only is it a dangerous play, but when you drop your eyes, you lose sight of the defender.

Instead, Love keeps his eyes open and squares up for the block, then initiates shoulder contact to disrupt the defender’s path, rather than waiting for the defender to get to him. This is textbook. Having a smaller frame will always be limiting for Love, and there are times on tape where he just doesn’t have the anchor strength and gets driven back into the quarterback. But he plays with good technique, which is really all you can ask for.

Love isn’t a perfect prospect, but he’s a bona fide first-round pick at running back if he stays on this trajectory. Especially in the modern NFL, teams will love his speed and fluidity in the open field, his ability to contribute on passing downs, his scheme versatility, and his willingness to do the dirty work. He’s a top 20 player on my big board as we approach August.