Love Ready For Chicago Return
Under the lights at Ryan Field, family in the crowd and familiar faces on the opposing sideline, junior cornerback Julian Love returns home when No. 4 Notre Dame takes on Northwestern in primetime on Saturday night.
“Flynn Nagel I know,” explained Love. “I am decently close to him, Miles Boykin, he and I played together. Cam Green who is a tight end now, I knew of him. We played on the same seven-on-seven program. I am good friends with Roderick Campbell who is a corner; Riley Lees is on the team a bunch of Chicagoland guys.”
Although they all went their own ways when Love decided on Notre Dame, the Illinois native has kept in touch, but haven’t talked about Saturday’s matchup.
“The last one I talked to was probably Roderick Campbell, the corner because we went to a lot of camps,” Love stated. “He is not from Chicago, but we went to a lot of camps through the recruiting process. The last guy I texted was Flynn maybe a year or two ago before everything took off here.”
After the bye week, Notre Dame had the challenge of Navy’s run-heavy triple-option defense. Two weeks without being against a typical offense scheme live, playing Northwestern Saturday is a relief for the defense.
“I am very happy,” expressed Love about playing a normal offensive scheme. “ I am back doing my job. With that bye week in there and then with Navy it feels like I haven’t played a real defense for a long time as in seeing normal offensive schemes.”
Notre Dame may be without Irish captain Drue Tranquill who is battling an ankle injury he sustained against Navy, but even on the sideline, he is making his presence felt.
“Drue is the heart and soul of our defense,” praised Love. “He has the mental capacity to know what everybody is doing at any given point. He rallies us together to keep pushing and keep working. He has been crucial for us this whole week already, even though he is not full go he is still with us and talking to guys, so that aspect of him isn’t gone even though he is not playing right now.”
The Irish defense may still have Tranquill’s leadership from the sideline, but on the field leadership isn’t something this 2018 ground lacks.
“I think I do a good job talking to guys individually,” informed Love. “In terms of the younger guys, keeping them in control and calm, I am more of the cool, calm and collected type. Since we have so much experience and a lot of talent, everyone just treats each other like brothers. There are times where we full blown yell at each other, but it is all love."