Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love Healthy & Ready for Physical Slugfest
Notre Dame’s injuries on the offensive line have been the hot topic around Atlanta this week as Marcus Freeman and his staff look to replace starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp, while right guard Rocco Spindler works his way through an ankle injury.
The status of running back Jeremiyah Love has quietly been under the radar despite not being close to 100 percent in last week’s Orange Bowl.
Love, who has rushed for 1,122 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2024, has dealt with a nagging knee injury dating back to the USC game, but he’s more than ready for Monday night’s title clash with Ohio State.
“I feel great,” stated Love. “We've got great training staff. So they made sure that I was good physically. Going into the last game, it was really just going to be a mental thing. I had to overcome a mental hurdle. During the events of the last game, it happened throughout the game where I started trusting my knee more and just started to play a little bit more free.”
The St. Louis native started the second half against Penn State, setting a tone with tough runs, but Love then showed that confidence by breaking multiple tackles to score from two yards out.
Love admits he was sore following the Orange Bowl, yet it was nothing out of the ordinary.
“You're going to be sore after a game, but it was just normal soreness,” Love said. “That run was pretty tough. A lot of people coming at me at once. Yeah, I got to score that touchdown because of the execution of my teammates as well. We all put in work to make things like that happen.”
The touchdown was impressive, but there was also another play where Love proved he was back to his old self as he hurdled a Penn State defender.
Hurdling has become a frequent move. Love has used it in recent games, and the country could see another one on Monday, but you could also see him run over defenders too.
“Whenever the opportunity presents itself or whenever a special play is needed, I'll do whatever I have to do, whether it's hurdling, whether that's trucking you or stiff-arming, whatever it may be,” explained Love. “I guess you could call it my signature move. If the opportunity presents itself on Monday, I might, but it all depends on the situation of the game too. Whatever is needed of me and the team.”
Physicality has been an emphasis all year for Notre Dame and Love knows the Irish will need to ramp it up one more time to return home with a ring.
A year ago, Love got a small taste of what kind of game Monday will be and he expects it to be another slugfest.
“This team as a whole, we're a very aggressive group,” Love said. “We want to go out there and dominate, execute our plays, and do whatever we've got to do to get the win. It’s just the result of our coaches doing a great job and coaching us up and telling us to get that extra yard if you can, or if the opportunity presents itself and you've got to score a touchdown, you've got to do it no matter what. If there's three guys on you, four guys, one guy, you've just got to make it happen.”
As showtime inches closer and closer, Notre Dame continues to be 8.5-point underdogs, which is more than fine with Love and his teammates.
“We're aware of it, but we don't really care,” said Love. “We're used to being the underdogs. It's great. A lot of people aren't expecting a lot out of us, but we've been at this point the whole season. After our loss against NIU, we've basically been playing a championship game every week since then. So we're used to the feeling.
“We don't really care. We're going to go out and play our game, execute the way we need to, and play with each other, play with love.”
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