Notre Dame Offense
Watched the offense to start to get a game feel for Love, but knowing they had some other guys as well.
First observation: CJ Carr wasn't great. He's young. But... he did not help Malachi Fields. His deep ball is not great. He puts way too much air in it.
Malachi Fields is always open. I'm shocked he didn't get more receptions, or at least thrown to more often. He can catch the ball in the screen game, downfield, etc. The biggest thing is that he blocks like it matters in the run game. He is excellent there.
Anthonie Knapp, a sophomore LT in '25... That kid is a player. Keep him in the back of your mind in the next year or two.
Jordan Faison is a shifty player who can block and piles up YAC. Another receiver for the loaded '27 class. He's probably more of a day 2 guy, but he can play.
Jadarian Price.. wow. He is explosive, runs through arm tackles, is a capable receiver. At times he looks like he has stiffer hips as he can at times round some jump cuts on the games I watched. But then he'll hit an awesome jump cut. It seems to be when he gets to the edge his momentum just doesn't let him get the outside foot down as quick. But he is a baller. He has a ton of wiggle in the interior. Excellent lateral agility. I think he might be RB2...
Jeremiyah Love - I'll start with thenegatives I saw, and they aren't constant. It was "at times" but it happened. On occasion his pass pro is very high, which allows the defender to essentially shrug him off and continue on path. He also can, at times, run with a bit too high of a pad level.
Now everything else:
What makes him special is how he sees the defense. Against USC, early in the game, he springs a long 50+ yard run. It's inside zone split, so the line is stepping with inside zone footwork and the H/TE blocks the backside end. Love takes the hand off and goes STRAIGHT downhill into the frontside A-gap because he sees the USC safety rotate to the backside. The rest was history.
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It's kind of hard to tell, but Love's eyes are directly on that safety. The second he commits to that rotation Love knows exactly where he is going. Fields makes an excellent downfield block here, by the way.
Love is shifty and moves really well. He is a receiver out of the backfield and even lines up as the inside slot at times when ND goes empty. He understands the schemes and knows where to work towards. He allows his OL to get to their blocks with patience and knows how to create his own holes by using his leverage to get defenders to overflow and allow his blockers to get into position.
It's funny, because I think people think I'm down on Bill which isn't the case - I think he needs development time. But the trait that Bill has that makes him standout and makes me believe he can develop and be a good back down the road is how fast he accelerates through the hole once he sees it. Like he's shot out of a cannon. That is a trait that Love shares with him. Love takes that up a level and sets up blocks and sees the defense and doesn't usually miss a gap where Bill is still working on that part of his game. In a way, Love is right now what Bill could be. If we could pair those two it would be excellent. Two backs who explode through open holes and allow for explosive plays. When one gets tired, let the other go to work. Especially as Bill continues to develop, and I think Love could help Bill's development.
I think Bill is shifter with his quick movements in a phone booth, where Love is more precise with his movements. So while I see them as similar in style they aren't exactly the same.
Love reads defenses so well and has so much patience. He's also an excellent receiver and, for the most part, a reliable pass protector.
I want to be clear here, I don't think Bill in his current iteration is on the same level as Love. But they share the explosiveness through a hole, which is one thing that I think Bill brings to the table - he's a home run threat. I think Bill might be faster, too. But not sure there.
But Love is a well rounded, intelligent, run through tackles, yards after contact back who can run for power or explosiveness. He is a good pass catcher and a good enough pass protector.
We all need a little more Love in our lives.
I think this solidified it for me that he is who I want us to take at 7 with no doubt.
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