Notre Dame 99-to-2: No. 22 Jeremiyah Love, incoming freshman running back, four-star recruit

Listed measurements: 6-foot-1, 195 pounds.
2023-24 year, eligibility: An incoming freshman, Love has all four seasons of eligibility remaining.
Depth Chart: When Logan Diggs transferred to LSU this spring, he opened up the door for Love to find genuine playing time in 2023. He may still be as low as No. 5 (of 5) on the Notre Dame depth chart, but two of those above him may be more plagued by injuries than the depth chart will indicate. Only September will give an honest indication on that front.
Recruiting: Love kept the Irish from going 0-for-4 at running back in the 2023 recruiting cycle. Early commit Sedrick Irvin flipped to Stanford before it would be too concerning to lose a recruit; multi-tool Dylan Edwards jumped to Colorado about when that consternation would begin to set in, and then Jayden Limar flipped to Oregon, officially at the last minute but it was expected for a bit before National Signing Day.

That left Love, a consensus four-star prospect and the No. 8 running back in the class, per rivals.com, ahead of two of those other possibilities (Limar at No. 9, Irvin at No. 17 and Edwards considered as an “all-purpose back,” somehow a different ranking, though he stood at No. 100 overall nationally, compared to Love’s No. 129).

An Under Armour All-American, Love visited his homestate Missouri a handful of times, as well as Michigan twice, before he chose Notre Dame.

WHAT WAS SAID WHEN LOVE SIGNED IN DECEMBER
“Love is fast and, more pertinently, enjoys quick acceleration. From the backfield, a slight hole should often spring him past the defense’s second level. …

“Love is the kind of running back that should play early in his career, but given Notre Dame enjoys running back depth, it may take a moment for him. In the meantime, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees will insist Love work on his pass blocking, something needed from nearly every high school running back, but especially one that was such a focal point of his preps offense. Love rarely needed to protect someone else with the ball, as it was usually in his own hands.

QUOTES
Tommy Rees may now be at Alabama, but the former Irish offensive coordinator’s expectations for Love should not be too different from newly-promoted offensive coordinator Gerad Parker’s.

“Jeremiyah is a huge priority,” Rees said in December when Love signed his National Letter of Intent. “There’s a lot he can do. We have a really good running back room right now, but that doesn’t mean Jeremiyah can’t play early. Because you look at a guy that can help you in other facets of the game.

“He has a trait that coach (Marcus) Freeman talked about, and that’s speed. That’s something we were very eager to add.”

Love’s speed, in fact, speaks to a continued Freeman priority. Just as Notre Dame always seeks length on its defensive line, it needs to add speed to its offensive skill position players if it wants to join the genuine national title contenders.

More precisely, Love has been clocked well below 11 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

2023 OUTLOOK
Diggs’ departure should open up a bounty of carries. A year ago, Diggs, Audric Estimé and Chris Tyree split 421 rush attempts among them, all between 100 (Tyree) and 165 (Diggs). Tyree has moved to receiver and Diggs is now in the SEC, so there are 265 carries to be replaced, with some disclaimers here for pace of play (last year: slow; this year: would be hard to be as plodding) and run-pass distribution. Adding a quarterback like Sam Hartman may skew that latter split enough to counter a quicker offense, keeping the rushing attempts in the low 400s.

Estimé will pick up many of them. He has the look of a true bellcow, at least for a season before he heads to the NFL.

In his two years as the lead piece of the Notre Dame backfield, Kyren Williams averaged 208 carries in 12 games. Let’s project that to Estimé.

Then there are 213 carries left to be snagged, naturally split between the next backs on the depth chart: sophomores Gi’Bran Payne (injuries his final two years of high school), sophomore Jadarian Price (torn Achilles last summer) and Penn State graduate transfer DeVyn Ford all logically coming before Love. 70 carries apiece would be too simple of math, especially given the injury histories of the first two names and the two years of unproductivity to end Ford’s Nittany Lions tenure.

Could Love snag some of them? With his speed, pass-catching ability and therefore big-play possibility, getting 12-15 touches to Love could expand Notre Dame’s offense. That may seem a low figure, but if just two or three of them yield first downs, then every Love thought will worry opposing defensive coordinators.

If Diggs had remained around, there would simply have been too many names ahead of Love to consider this vague thought. But without him, one unfortunate injury to anyone ahead of Love could very much move him into the weekly gameplan, even as just an occasional piece.

And that is not even considering him as a kickoff return specialist, something to be watched for in preseason practices.

DOWN THE ROAD
If not in 2023, Love could be a focal piece of the Irish offense in 2024. Estimé will almost certainly head to the NFL after this season, at which point a big-play back like Love could be cut loose.

He averaged 9.7 yards per rush and 19.7 yards per catch in his last two years of high school. Maybe Love is never an every-down ball carrier, but he could be an every-week highlight-producer, and national title contenders require the latter more than the former, as much as football traditionalists may hate that reality.

Price and Payne could then handle more of the bruising workload, creating a multi-dimensional Notre Dame backfield.

NOTRE DAME 99-TO-0
The summer countdown begins anew, Rylie Mills to Deion Colzie
No. 99 Rylie Mills, senior defensive tackle, moving back inside from end
No. 98 Devan Houstan, early-enrolled four-star defensive tackle
No. 97 Gabriel Rubio, junior defensive tackle, one of three Irish DTs with notable experience
No. 95 Tyson Ford, sophomore defensive tackle, up 30 pounds from a year ago
No. 93 Armel Mukam, incoming freshman defensive end, former Stanford commit
No. 92 Aidan Keanaaina, a senior defensive tackle now ‘fully healthy’ after a 2022 torn ACL
No. 91 Aiden Gobaira, sophomore defensive end, former four-star recruit
No. 88 Mitchell Evans, the next starter at ‘TE U
No. 87 Cooper Flanagan, incoming freshman tight end, four-star recruit
No. 84 Kevin Bauman, senior tight end coming off a torn ACL
No. 83 Jayden Thomas, junior receiver, probable No. 1 target in 2023
No. 79 Tosh Baker, senior tackle, again a backup but next year ...
No. 78 Pat Coogan, junior interior offensive lineman
No. 77 Ty Chan, sophomore offensive tackle, former four-star recruit
No. 76 Joe Alt, first-team All-American left tackle
No. 75 Sullivan Absher, incoming freshman offensive lineman
No. 74 Billy Schrauth, sophomore left guard, likely starter
No. 73 Andrew Kristofic, fifth-year right guard, likely starter
No. 72 Sam Pendelton, early-enrolled freshman offensive lineman
No. 70 Ashton Craig, sophomore interior offensive lineman
No. 68 Michael Carmody, senior offensive lineman
No. 65 Michael Vinson, sixth-year long snapper, four-year starter
No. 64 Joe Otting, incoming freshman offensive lineman, four-star recruit
No. 59 Aamil Wagner, sophomore offensive tackle
No. 56 Charles Jagusah, incoming freshman offensive lineman, four-star recruit
No. 56 Howard Cross, fifth-year defensive tackle, multi-year starter
No. 55 Chris Terek, incoming freshman offensive lineman, four-star recruit
No. 54 Blake Fisher, junior right tackle, second-year starter
No. 52 Zeke Correll, fifth-year center, third-year starter
No. 51 Boubacar Traore, incoming freshman defensive end, four-star recruit
No. 50 Rocco Spindler, junior offensive guard
No. 47 Jason Onye, junior defensive tackle on the verge of playing time
No. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka, sophomore defensive end, former linebacker
No. 42 Nolan Ziegler, sophomore linebacker, Irish legacy
No. 41 Donovan Hinish, sophomore defensive tackle following in his brother’s footsteps
No. 40 Joshua Burnham, sophomore linebacker-turned-Vyper end
No. 38 Davis Sherwood, junior fullback/H-back, former walk-on
No. 34 Drayk Bowen, early-enrolled freshman linebacker, baseball infielder
No. 32 Spencer Shrader, South Florida transfer kicker
No. 31 Nana Osafo-Mensah, fifth-year defensive end
No. 29 Christian Gray, early-enrolled freshman cornerback coming off a knee injury
No. 29 Matt Salerno, sixth-year receiver, former walk-on
No. 27 JD Bertrand, fifth-year linebacker, third-year starter, possible captain
No. 25 Preston Zinter, early-enrolled freshman linebacker, subtle recruiting win
No. 24 Jack Kiser, fifth-year linebacker, third-year starter, most efficient defender
No. 23 Jaiden Ausberry, early-enrolled freshman linebacker, four-star recruit
No. 22 Ben Minich, early-enrolled freshman safety, four-star recruit
No. 17 Brenan Vernon, incoming freshman defensive end, four-star recruit
No. 13 Holden Staes, sophomore tight end, up 20 pounds in a year
No. 12 Penn State RB transfer Devyn Ford gives Notre Dame newly-needed backfield depth, experience
No. 4 Rhode Island transfer safety Antonio Carter gives Notre Dame desperately needed backline depth

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