New York Giants CB Julian Love Ready to Graduate from Notre Dame
Life has been a whirlwind over the last year for New York Giants cornerback Julian Love. A year ago, the 5-foot-11, 195-pounder was preparing for the NFL Draft and going through the draft process.
Fast forward a year and Love is taking finishing up his Notre Dame degree in management consulting from the Mendoza College of Business.
"When I decided to commit to Notre Dame, I did so with the full intention to graduate," Love told Irish Sports Daily. "Circumstances changed with my career, but my plan was always to graduate.
"Before I declared, I made sure I had everything in order to be able to graduate."
Former Notre Dame players coming back to get their degrees is nothing new as Josh Adams and Troy Niklas are a few recent names who joined Love in deciding to finish what they started academically.
It hasn't been an easy spring for Love as he had to load up on classes and then adjust to online courses after starting the semester on campus.
"I'm taking 21 credits this spring," stated Love. "I took six online credits last summer and in Newark (N.J.), I was doing online classes to get everything in place to finish. It worked out pretty well."
Love will be the first to say it was a little awkward to return to a classroom in South Bend after recording 37 tackles for the Giants months before.
"It was a little bit weird," laughed Love. "It was definitely different being in classrooms after being in by myself. A lot of people I still knew because I fell back in line with my senior class."
Notre Dame moving to online classes due to the coronavirus has its perks, but there are also some challenges.
"It's incredibly tough," explained Love. "When you're at home taking online classes, you don't have to go anywhere, but you have to deal with everything else at your house. You have everyone around and a lot of distractions. You really have to lock in and that's the toughest part of taking online classes."
Love will graduate and May, so that brings up the question of which will be the better feeling: Graduating from Notre Dame or getting drafted?
"I was excited to walk across the stage," said Love. "That was my main motivation I kept visualizing. It will now be extremely delayed until next year, which stinks.
"At this point, I would say getting drafted. It would have been close if I was able to graduate with a normal schedule without all of this external stuff going on. Getting drafted was special and something I have always dreamed about."
Notre Dame has a large number of NFL Draft hopefuls preparing for their chance at the next level, but they've faced challenges over the last couple of months due to the coronavirus.
Pro Day was canceled, so teams couldn't see a final workout in person as the NFL has a travel ban for all its personnel. Teams can't host players on visits to get to know them better on and off the field.
Love doesn't envy his friends going through the 2020 draft process, but he's confident they will find a way to get the job done.
"It really does impact the guys coming out in the draft," Love explained. "Not being able to get in front of coaches and staff and showing them who you're about is tough. To do it digitally or over the phone - I feel for my guys. I know this class is very gritty and they will find a way.
"I know they've been getting after it each day and that's what they have to keep doing even though they can't travel or people can't come to see you. You have to get your work done to showcase yourself until you get on a team."
The Notre Dame football team lost spring football and it's likely the NFL rookies will lose rookie mini-camp.
It's a significant loss, but Love also believes those who put in the work will rise to the top.
"It could be a loss for a lot of guys coming out in this draft class," Love stated. "I don't think it will be a loss for the Notre Dame guys. I think everyone will lock in whether you're meeting online with coaches and going over playbooks digitally. They're going to get after it.
"That's who we are and they're going to get their job done. When they do get to their teams, they will hit the ground running in any capacity. It stinks because you want to be out there and learning everything firsthand, but this will require a special type of person to succeed early in this format."
Love is quick to credit his former teammates at Notre Dame for helping him make a quick transition to the field during his rookie year.
"The main thing was I had a lot of great friends on the team and there was a lot of great guys around," explained Love. "We got after it and pushed each other to compete with each other, whether it was workouts, conditioning, or on the field.
"Everyone's natural thing was to go hard. Guys pushed me to go hard and that helped me when I got to the Giants. I really appreciated that."
The Chicago native also appreciated what Notre Dame as a whole provided him as it allowed him to transition to the real-world effortlessly.
"Off the field, Notre Dame as a community really prepared me for time management of my personal matters and getting them all in order, so I wasn't ever worrying about it," Love said. "I had my life in order because the Notre Dame format forces you to make real-world decisions throughout your career."
Notre Dame has had a long-standing record of preparing guys for life in the NFL and it's not a shock Love feels the same way many before him felt.
"I think I was surprised at how ready I felt," said Love. "Some stuff was different, but I felt good and ready. I didn't get a chance to play early on defense, but I played a lot of special teams. It was never a surprise or expectation because I knew I had to go in and work. My mindset was to get through it.
"It was surprising to see some big-name guys I've watched growing up, but then you realize you fit in and can ball with the best of them. The league is yours if you really put the work in."