Deland McCullough wanted to see Jeremiyah Love take a hit.
McCullough, Notre Dame’s running backs coach, recruited Love as a four-star running back out of Christian Brothers College High in St. Louis in the 2023 class. Because Love didn’t enroll early, McCullough had to wait until preseason camp this summer to see how Love handled the physicality of college football.
Then Love dealt with a minor hamstring issue, which kept him out of the live scrimmages in which Love would actually be talked by Notre Dame defenders. That changed Saturday when Love was given the green light to participate.
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“When he came here, I said I wanted to know if he was ‘about that life,’” McCullough said Tuesday after Notre Dame’s 17th preseason practice. “Running hard. Running through guys. You look at him, you think he might be a finesse guy. Nah, he’s about that life.
“Jeremiyah’s running through some guys. He’s strong in pass protection. He’s super fast. He’s very athletic. And he’s extremely intelligent. With that combination, he’s super hungry. He’s made major, major strides.”
Rivals ranked Love, an Under Armour All-American, as the No. 8 running back and No. 129 overall in the 2023 class. He’s made a physical transformation in the two-plus months he’s been on campus from 186 pounds to 202 pounds, per McCullough, at just under 6-foot.
He was finally able to put that frame to the test Saturday. As McCullough tells it, Love got hit right in the mouth on his very first play. He got right back up and kept going.
“It was very, very important for me,” Love said. “This was my first practice going live, and Coach McCullough always says you don't want your first hit or live tackle to be in game. So last Saturday's practice was very important for me as to getting a feeling on how people hit in college and basically the speed of an actual live practice or a live game.”
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Even though Love believes there’s “no doubt” he’s the fastest running back on the team, the speed of the game has been the biggest adjustment for him in the last month.
“The speed is a very big difference from high school, and I'm still getting adjusted to the speed now,” Love said. “It still is something that I'm working on. The speed is very fast. Throughout fall camp, I think I've done a pretty good job of adjusting to it, but I still need to adjust to college-level speed.”
Love wants to make sure he has no holes in his game, so he’s made a concerted effort to improve in his ability to pass protect.
“In high school, you really just go out there and try to hit people with your shoulder,” Love said. “College-wise, you actually have to square them up, use your hands to punch them, knock them off balance. The skill level is just different, so you can't really just go out there recklessly trying to hit people. You actually have to use technique.”
McCullough likes to think about his running back rotation as having nine or 10 different roles that each player can be better at than the others. That could allow all four of the scholarship running backs behind junior starter Audric Estimé to find the field at various times.
Last season, Notre Dame's top three running backs combined for 421 carries. Estimé had 156 of them. So there should be plenty of touches available to be shared.
Love may have a hard time jumping ahead of Penn State graduate transfer Devyn Ford, and sophomores Jadarian Price and Gi’Bran Payne, but he doesn’t have to pass them all up in every aspect. If his speed and elusiveness translates into playmaking, McCullough won’t be afraid to all upon him.
“It keeps me ready since we're all constantly rotating backs,” Love said. “It won't cause me to just sit back and say, 'I'm not going to play, so I'm not really going to pay attention or work as hard.’ Since I know that they're rotating backs, it makes me want to work hard and stay focused and practice because I know eventually my turn will come.”
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