The McShay Show - Scouting Jeremiyah Love: The Notre Dame RB Looks Like a Future First-Rounder

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Welcome back to The McShay Show! Todd and Steve are back with a deep dive on Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love. (0:00) Welcome to The McShay Show! (1:14) Analyzing the 2026 RB Draft Class(6:50) Summer Scouting Series: Evaluating Jeremiyah Love(8:50) Position Specific Rankings for Jeremiyah Love(15:07) NFL Comps for Jeremiyah Love(24:23) Expectations for Love's 2025 Season at Notre Dame Next week, we’ll be back with Todd’s takeaways from the Manning Passing Academy. Be sure to subscribe to The McShay Report for Todd’s summer content and full written scouting reports of every player discussed in the Summer Scouting Series. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Mark Panik, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's hard to follow up a running back class like the one we just had. But while there's a lot of unknown in the 2026 class at this position, Jeremiah Love stands out above the rest. Today, we give the full treatment to love while also offering a sneak peek into the top running back class, the group that's entering the 2025 college football season. And by the way, just 302 days from the NFL draft, Minch, you good? I'm good, man. Ad a boy.

Signor Tucker. Play me that summer beat, would you? Way to start just stumbling over my own words. Some people would say we vastly overrated. Some people have some vastly overrated this running back class in 2025. You guys were dead wrong. You said there was going to be at least 30 running backs taken. Yeah, I thought there might be.

They were 26. It was the most since 2017. It was a great group. And we knew it. We warned everyone. one for a couple months leading up. You know what? This is going to get, it's going to get backloaded. Just like 2017, there's going to be a ton of backs on day three, and that's what it was. I want to say six, six backs taken on the first two days of the draft. 26 in total. Five in the first

two rounds, though. And we know those names. Ashton Genti, obviously, Omari and Hampton. Then in round two, it was, I think it's in this order. I'm off the top of my head. Quinn-Shon Judkins was a surprise trade-vion Henderson. and Caleb Johnson for my. Correct. Is that right? Okay. That's in the right order to, yep. Thank you. Good. This year's class is different.

Like, how can you? When you have 26 running backs selected and five in the first two rounds, two in the first round, like there's only so many programs in college football. And by the way, they all transfer to the same like 60 programs now, right? So there's going to be turnover. There's going to be a lot of uncertainty and a lot of unknown. but one blue blood program with an absolute hoffs as it's returning running back is Notre Dame with Jeremiah Love.

Let's get into some quickly. Let's get into some of the other names, though, because it is intriguing. And there's been some movement. Jeremiah loves the number one running back. And we're going to break him down completely here. After that, it's interesting. It's kind of a mixed bag, Munch. CJ Baxter, considered by some scouts like, look out for this guy, you know?

I mean, Jaden Blue can wind up going in what round four somewhere in that range as a back who barely touched the ball comparatively to some of the other guys who were drafted ahead and behind him. Baxter's just, like, he's returned. Red shirt sophomore, missed 2024 with that torn right ACL. like Texas had, it was unbelievable that they went as far as they did and had the offensive success that they did and had the success in the running game at times, considering all the injuries and C.J. Baxter being the guy. So he comes back. He brushed for 659 yards and five touchdowns as a true freshman in a rotation in 2023, okay?

And he'll share carries with Wisner, who rushed for over 1,000 yards this past year and probably one or two other backs. Beyond Baxter, the two Penn State guys. I'll be interested, which one gets drafted first? We got a whole season this year. But Ketron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, right? I love Allen. Singleton gets drafted first. He's more speed.

He's more versal. He's more the NFL game. But Ketron Allen's going to be a really good pro too. I think Singleton gets drafted first. I think so too. Mackay Hughes from Oregon, he transferred. from Tulane. Man, he had some numbers.

He posted 1982 rushing yards after contact his first two seasons in two lanes. Let me give you a little nugget here. A little nuggy for you, Mench, on a Thursday in the summer. A little nuggy. Ashton Genty and Omari and Hampton

were the only two that recorded more in that two-year span, both first round. There you go. his 2776 rushing yards since 2023 are the most by any returning FBS back by 467 yards. Yeah. So now he transfers to a bigger program in Oregon. They obviously lose James Johnson. They're rolling out in Eugene.

It's going to be fascinating to watch what he does there. Give you a few more names. You say whatever you want on them or any other backs you want. Jonah Coleman had a great season, got nicked up towards the end. or for Washington, right? DeMond Claiborne, Wake Forest. He's fascinating. I'm excited to see him this year.

And then our good old friend, Jaden Ott, he was like third round coming into last year. Day two. He was at Cal. He had that 2023 season. We had 1,305 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. But he got that ankle injury. And like, I remember being like,

what happened to Ott? What's going on with Ott? because he's playing you know he's starting he's in games but he's not the same and then the you know the season kind of just spun out of control for him but now he transfers to oh you with our boy now he's all of our boys he was connor evans our boy in the beginning but now i can't get enough of this guy and he doesn't tip off at 2 a.m. every saturday so we get to watch him in norman Oklahoma. So that's going to be a fun backfield with with ot and mature. So we're anything from you. I just say I love big backs. I like the guys who have a 220 to 25 plus and Jonah Coleman is

5-9-229. That's what he's listed at. He is a power back. We'll see how he runs, but I'm intrigued by Coleman. Got a lot of work to do on these guys. This is what happens when the market gets flooded, though, is now there's a vacuum of power. And you're going to see guys that we aren't talking about right now. there are going to be players that we are not talking about who are going to step into that vacuum. Like a lot of them. Right. And start competing for a top five spot in the position. So it would be fun to watch.

It's going to be a good year. All right. Jeremiah Love, Notre Dame. 2023 is a true freshman. He came in. By the way, he's six foot. 212. He's listed.

I bet she's close to 218 this year when he plays would be my guess. Estimated, I've seen anywhere from four, four flat to uh four four eight was kind of the range i'll bet i'll bet under the nova on on this guy yeah he led christian brothers high school to back-to-back state championships in football that's in the state of missouri also competed in track in high school the long jumper he had a i forget it was like a personal best of 22 points something feet i don't i'm not a big track guy but i do know that 1076 is pretty damn fast in the 100 meters. And he won the Missouri Class 5 state title in the 100 meter with that time.

2020, go ahead. 20203 comes into Notre Dame. He played in all 13 games, one start, finished second on the team with just 385 rush yards, 5.4 yards per carry, one touchdown, kind of a welcome to the Biggs kid. We get a rotation here. This is Notre Dame, by the way. You'll get your time in the future. but it didn't take long.

2024 takes over full-time starter. 16 games. Finished with 163 carries. I mean, the quarterback bailed them out in terms of like the punishment he took. Still towards the end of the year and we'll get into that was knocked around. Wasn't the same guy. I think four, what do you have? Four carries in the final game, the national championship.

but 1125, 17 touchdowns. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry. And he also cut 28 passes for 237 yards and two more scores. So that's the backdrop. Let's play our favorite game, Mench. One is best. Five is worst. We're playing golf.

The lower the score, the better. One's excellent. Two's good. Three's average. Four is below average. Five is marginal. You tell me, as we go through. through the position-specific traits, which are vision patience is one.

The next one is agility acceleration. Third one is power and balance. The fourth one is past protection. Sorry, I break it out myself. It's like a secret society I haven't mentioned. Oh, so now you're, oh, here we go. I give it, I just, I try to sort it out in my own, right. I can adjust, go for it.

Passing, go bleep yourself. Yeah. Passing game is the, is the fifth one. All right. So you go first and I counter and tell you if you're crazy or if I love it. Vision patience, what's your grade. Is competitive that that's what I have first? Is competitiveness?

Is that different on your box? Yeah, I guess I've just cheated and made my own boxes. What do you get for competitiveness? One. Absolutely. Ball security is off the charts and the way he runs. Vision patience. Two.

I went one five. Okay. Same neighborhood. agility acceleration one five bingo same here power balance two

I went one five but I can live with your grade passing game two I went three I get why you went three I get why you went three and then I'm going to make the argument of why you're wrong because I've already had that debate in my own head so I'm fully prepared for you whatever you're going to say

I play the pros and cons game. Let's get into it then. You start. What do you got? I think Juice is the first word that comes up when you, when you watch this guy. He gets a lane and he can go. Like I said,

he can scoot. That's, you know, he can see you later. And you don't only see that. There are some guys who have that long speed, you know, those,

you know, that's smooth buildup, long speed who aren't as explosive. This guy has got some, he can hesitate a little bit, give his blocker a chance to get in position and you see that explosive burst through the line's what's different with him as a 210 let's call him like 215 is like a 215 back that's trending by the time he gets drafted he's going to be right around 220 which is kind of where

you and i agree we like to see our backs i think that's what's different with him than than most other guys it doesn't take him but uh to reach he go he goes man yeah And it jumps out. It jumps out on tape. Like, go ahead. I think maybe one of the downfalls with how explosive and fast he is, is there are a couple times I got the Forrest Gump cut. And what I call the Forrest Gump cut is when a back turns his shoulders

directly towards the sideline. And you are never coaching that as a running back coach. You remember when Forrest Gunt was at Alabama? You guys remember his career at Alabama? He's returned a kick and he just turned sideways. And the coach of the players like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. there was a couple times when he actually turns his shoulders towards the sidelines and then gets out of contain gets outside contained now in the NFL I don't think you're going to

do that to the benefit of the doubt for the player is that the force player lost contain and he knew he just had to get outside and then he could go so maybe he saw maybe he made the read okay but there is sometimes where I'm like maybe he leans on the burst and explosiveness a little bit too much and let's get up the field not a lot it's not a big issue it's popped up a couple times in my head. The other thing I'll say about this is, especially early on, I couldn't tell it was the way he was wearing his socks or tights underneath his pads. It looked like he was very high cut. And I do think he's a little bit of a high cut player. And when I watch hike, yeah, when I see those guys, I get concerned about their ability to change directions and I get

concerned about their power. This dude can sink his hips and make a violent cut and make a guy, embarrassed dudes in the hole, embarrassed guys in tight spaces. And then the power. And then the power. he is strong, man. He is, he is, I mean, I'm sure we're going to talk about this a little bit. That Penn State touchdown, it's a two-yard touchdown run in the playoffs to put Penn State ahead. It was 10-10 at the time, beginning of the fourth quarter. He's playing on a knee injury that again, we'll talk about, but he's playing with a knee injury, and he refuses to go down.

I mean, he will not be denied. I think four, I counted four, maybe five defenders had a chance to get him on the ground, he just wasn't having it and he gets into the end zone. So you look at that, that just core strength, that power, the ability to break tackles, the ability to make guys miss, and you add that on to the patience, you add that on to the burst and the speed. He's an impressive player. He is an impressive player.

There are some flaws we'll get into. We'll talk about the passing game a little bit and I think he can get better in those areas. Two things that I really like about him in the passing game. One is he's willing and he's strong in past protection. he's got to get better, but he's willing and he's strong. And the second is he's a problem after the catch. He is going to be a problem after the catch.

They like to get him a little involved, will they put him out wider in the slot, run some tunnel screens with him, get him, get in the ball in space. He is hard to tackle with one dude after the catch. So there's some things that can improve there. I don't think he always catches the ball cleanly. I think the hands could be a little bit better.

He's not a polished route runner. I also think he's not a polished pass blocker. I think he likes to lean with his shoulder. He'll give the, if you read them right, the defender knows which way to go, and that could be more of a problem. Also, it could be a little quicker identifying assignments. These are little things he's got to clean up in Passpro, but he's got some pop and he's willing,

and he'll step up and meet dudes and he'll do it between the tackles or if picking guys off the edge. He's, again, I think a younger player, it's very encouraging what he was showing last year in Passpro. All right, folks, that's our show on Jeremiah. Love. We'll see you on Monday. No, that was great.

That was great. I got a comp, too. Yeah. Why not, right? Yeah, my same build. Same build. Yeah, just take the day off. You're good.

Same build. My headphones work. This is the comp. This comp is why I didn't give him a one in, in acceleration and agility, because this guy is a little bit different to the comp. But he's got the same build and sort of the same running style as Darren McFadden did at Arkansas. He reminds me a little bit of. of Darren McFadden.

Now, Darren McFadden, now, Darren McFadden ran a 433. And I don't think that Love is quite there. But they are both explosive and they both have not only that explosive burst of the hole, but that explosive power. Like, Jeremiah, love, if he has to, if you got him in a, in a tight space and a hallway, he will try to run through you. He's not just a guy that's going to make guys miss and try to get around you.

He will use that explosive burst to lower his shoulder and try to run through you. That kind of reminded me of McFadden. And then McFadden, I mean, just went back and watched the highlights. Man, that guy was fun to watch when he was at Arkansas. I mean, when he got a crease, it was see you later. And it didn't matter if it was LSU. It didn't matter if it was Georgia.

It didn't matter who he was going against, man. He was gone. And so I don't think he's quite on that level as McFadden, but shades. We talk about Combs, shades of McFadden with love, in my opinion. And when McFadden needed a breather, Felix Jones came in and ripped one off for 75 yards, both first round running backs. And Peyton Hillis was in.

in that backfield too, man. Peyton Hillis, too. Yeah, there was like McFadden was playing wildcat throw a pass as the Hillis. It was wild, man. It was like the golden era of running backs. Like, remember just a couple years before Cadillac Williams and the SEC. At Auburn. Yeah.

Couldn't find a quarterback. Couldn't find a lick a quarterback play in that conference for like a decade. But the running back. Defense and backs and offensive alignment. Yeah, there you go. Yep. Um, wow. I obviously like it.

I obviously like him. You like love. Yeah, where to go from here. I saw some shades of three different backs. I don't want to pin one guy, but just some shades. I actually think there's some similarities with Bejon. Okay. I saw some similarities with Brees Hall.

These are all good names to be connected to, man. Oh, hell yeah. and even some Joe Mixin. Wow. A little bit of Joe Mixin. All those guys are a little bit heavier, right? Those are all 220 plus guys. Maybe not Bijon.

Bejan might be 215. I think Bijan was like 217, something like that. Okay. Brise was like 220 when he came out, 222. 22, something like that. 20 plus, yeah. I thought that Mixer was like 2.18. But yeah, they were all in that range.

And I think he's going to be in that range. Um, the Bijon was kind of like the, the acceleration in Breece too, that like acceleration, whether it's after the catch or when they, you know, uh, at that size. Yeah. Yes. Breeze more polished in the passing game. No question about it. Um, yeah. Anyways, those are three backs as I kind of look through it that that shades of. Okay. I like his instincts as a runner. There are times when he dances a little bit. They're like Indiana. They forced him to bounce some stuff outside.

They did a good job. But there were some like even one of his like, I don't want a better run. But it was interesting like a Virginia touchdown run inside the five yard line. It was 1309 second quarter. I just found a sweet cut. It was a cut back to the outside. But kind of like what you talked about like can he can he work laterally that way in the NFL? There's some stuff that he can improve on.

But like when he's working downhill is what like, you know, the inside handoff with the with the pick and slide. And what I love about him is a lot of guys can pick and a lot of guys can slide. But can you be doing that dance? And I don't mean dancing as a negative. I mean like that that dance that every good running back has when they're, it's and I don't mean dance. I mean like that, where's it going to be?

I'm watching the blocks in front of me. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. But there's going to be a moment of truth. And hit, like when I think he does a really good job in those situations, he's advancing the run. It's moving and then, but when it's time to go, he is, I'm always looking for it.

Play 21 against Miami, Ohio. I know it's Miami, Ohio, but play 21 against Miami, Ohio. I was like, oh, there it is. I got it. He does that, and he can do that. And again, it separates great backs from good backs. I saw it right then. It was patience.

And as soon as he had a gap, as soon as guys were set with their blocks, he was gone. I mean, he was just so fast and the whole. It was crazy. Yeah, and I saw it inside end out, like downhill, pick and slide, sharp cut, then grind with balance and power at the end of a run. That's a note I put 405 second quarter of Texas A&M, okay? Inside run, hurdles, defenders, then drags tacklers, and presses. of contact balance. It takes a three-yard gain, turns it into 10. Started with vision.

That's 1310, second quarter of Georgia Tech. Sweep to the left, fourth quarter, Georgia Tech, follows his block, patience, then makes a one defender miss, a subtle little cutback and walks in for six. There were, Virginia, second, second quarter, 1456. This is when he's at his best, downhill charging. patient, but then explode. You want to see if I had to like, it doesn't show all this traits and all that, but if you want to see what I think is going to make him special, go to 1456 second quarter.

First play from scrimmage of the second quarter for them. I guess there's maybe second, whatever. That's like him at his best, downhill charging, but patient and using that. Like, he's kind of light on his feet and maneuvers. For a tall, for a high cut guy. Yeah. A high cut guy.

Yeah. And so I love that about it. I also think, like, he's got this really cool combination when it comes to his power and his contact balance. He is an upright runner. And so, like, I think what's cool to watch is, and I remember like Cadillac Williams had this. It can run a little high and you have a lot of pads as a target for a defender,

but when you go to get them, it's slippery. It's like this subtle shoulder move. It's this lean with your body. So my target goes from this. You know what I mean? Let's call it a foot, foot and a half of a target that you think you have as a defender. And all of a sudden you go to get the moment of truth,

the point of contact. And it's like this. It's like four or five inches. Somehow like it's like this thing. And then they're bouncing off and the legs are going. And he's not one of those like, germ or like even like he's like kind of sweetness like a poetry and motion type thing that bouncing off break this tackle and then at the end of every run though is when it changes it goes

from this like slippery contact balance where he he just kind of has those instincts right and it's like you never get in a full target so like all right i'm done but your work here isn't done do you know what i mean yeah it's like a butterfly's thing like a bee man like he is He's floating through there and he's doing his thing. And all of a sudden, when he knows, I'm going to end. This run is over. Yeah. This run is over.

But I'm going to get, I'm going to drag you and I'm going to get five or six or even two or three. But I'm always going to make you work hard now. And so it goes from the sweet. Yeah. But I mean, yeah. I like it. Ali. Yeah.

It's like this sweet, poetic running style. And then all of a sudden at the end, it's like, fuck you. You want to bring me. down you're going to have to pay right now we we do have to talk about the fact that he did he did hurt his knee at the end of the year against us and it it affected him in the playoffs not good not so much can see by the way the indiana game he's coming off for a knee injury and he's battling he's sick and he has a monster game he had the 98 yard run he was a big difference in that game uh but for the next three games georgia penn state oh house state not the same dude six

carries, 11 carries, four carries, right? Now, we all are, we are also talking about a guy who only, I think he averaged 10.2 carries per game. And you could say those three games had an impact. He did. He only had more than 15 carries of one game, though, Virginia. And that was 16. This is not a heavy workload guy yet. You know, Riley Leonard, you're right. Riley Leonard took a lot of the load off of him. So what does that look like this year? And you're now, and also you're hearing in, in in spring and i think you're going to be extra cautious let's not read too much into things but in spring he's tweaked his hamstring he had to come out of a practice is we're going to be looking at durability for him like we would be for every other back and keeping an eye on is this a thing

now the knee injury he never had surgery is my understanding i looked it up i didn't i don't think it's anything that required surgery and he was obviously able to play on it but he wasn't the same dude after the u sc game you know again indiana was great but he had the 98 yard run was the bulk of the production and all of that. So that's something we're going to have to keep an eye on again for his durability. Is it going to be what, CJ Carr quarterback? Is that who it is? I don't know.

I don't know. I mean, I've heard competition. I actually was on the goal at the other day. And I want to say they thought the car was going to be the guy. I know they got, um, it was Minchie, Kenny Minchie and Steve, uh, and, and, and and Jelly or in Geli. Yes. Right.

Um, fan favorite. So, but that will be interesting to watch. And ideally, ideally he has another 170, 200 carry year and enters the league with under 500 carries. Great. But he's got to stay healthy with that small workload too. Right. You know? Right.

But I love the fact that it didn't fumble the ball once. He's in complete control of that football. There was a couple times the Western Kentucky game he got in and he was in, but the ball came out at the end. And I think he was a little bit of a coaching moment. Like, you know, we've said before. It was a little bit of a coaching moment. He got the sideline like, hey, man, let's make sure that things tucked away.

So we're not leaving any doubt. And there's a couple times where he gets away from his frame. But again, he does these things where you're like, oh, that's not great. But he's also, when the ball does drift, he's in no danger of losing it, where he is on the field. So you got to kind of give him the benefit of the doubt when he knows. knows where he can get away with certain things. Again, the Forrest Gump cut. It's not something you could additionally coach,

but he got outside of contain and he turns the corner and it ends up being a great play. So when you have a guy who has a unique burst, the unique speed, you coach him a little bit differently. And there are different rules for those kinds of guys. Now, if he can do it in the NFL, I don't know. And probably an NFL coach is going to be like, let's cut the shit with that.

We're not going to do that here. That's probably not going to work as well. But if you could get away with it at the college level, do it, man. So there's little things. Like, there's little things he can work. on pass pro i think you can get better i think it'd be a little more cleaner catching the football develop as a route runner he's got areas to improve on but man for a guy who's got one year as the

full-time starter this is exciting i try not to overthink running backs anymore i feel like i used to earlier in my scouting career i spent a lot of time talking to the broncos guys and their personnel department and like the one cut go and that's like their scheme they're great at identifying those players that's why they got all all like uh terrell davis and all those guys every year, a thousand, a thousand yard rusher and drafting him in the fourth, fifth, sixth round, you know. And there's all these different run styles, and everything can look different.

So the two things, there's three things that I generally try to lean on with running backs. And we'll work, I don't want to say reverse order, but the first is, can they in pass pro? not do they have they can they and that's lower on the totem pole but it's a can they and are they competitive enough do i see it like is that a technique thing do they not are they not you can they is one of the things the second part is can does love pass the test for can they pass yes okay because he's he's big i've seen flashes i think he gets i don't want to say lazy but i want to see more

attention to detail. I think that's fair. Attention to the craft. I think you, I don't, it's like the easy way out or just like, it's not like lazy or easy way. It's just show me that every play is like your life, your career, your, your,

your position, your role is, is on the line. Because I saw that from from Chutkins and Henderson, you know. So I want to see a little bit more. that because he's big, he's strong, he can do all of it. And I saw flashes, even as a run blocker, second level going out. There's a couple times he's popping gas. Yeah. So he can't, right? Yeah. Can he in the passing game? Absolutely. And can be a difference maker? Yes, absolutely. Now, we're going to get on the jugs machine and we're going to work on routes and we're going to

do different things because I think there's more to what he can provide as a receiver. I really do. when you catch a ball, was it Florida State? No, that was the angle route where he caught the, that was actually a nice catch where he had a lunge behind the linebacker and make the catch. That was Florida State. 442 second quarter, Georgia Tech game. Keep referring to that. It's the first page of my notes here, so whatever.

That was an example. He catches the ball on a checkdown over the middle, breaks it to the outside. Like, he catches, turns, and flies. I'm talking a stand still looking at the quarterback, five yards from the line of scrimmage, catches the ball with back turned to the defense, and to get from load to arrival again, right?

We talked about that with all the quarterbacks, and we talked about it with Caleb Downs at safety. I'm talking about like the millisecond he catches it with his back turn to the defense, stationary position to get, accelerate, get turn the corner, and turn that five-yard checkdown into a 25-yard game. There's a lot of juice there, man. You said it earlier, juice.

He's rarely tackled by the first offender after the catch. He's rarely tackled by the first guy that gets there. You better rally to him. Like, he'll make you pay. And that's a huge, like, that is a monster part of the game in the NFL. Let's not over-complicate this thing. Can he? So now it's my job as an offensive coordinator.

As a position coach, let's improve his hands. work on some routes, let's advance his game. But we're going to make him a factor in the passing game because there's not many guys who are going to be pushing 220 pounds when they come in the league that can catch the ball and accelerate the way he does with his back turn to the defense and catch that right edge in the defense and turn that corner, okay? And then the third part, and I'm working in reverse order because this is the most important

part. The second most important part is the passing game. The third most important part to me is he's got to be able to protect or else we've got a problem. And it doesn't have to be all the time. It doesn't have to be great, but can he? The first thing is, does he create his own yards? So we talk about vision and patience and speed and agility and acceleration and power and contact balance. All these buzzwords that are important and allow us to communicate and allows a scout to communicate to other scouts and cross checks and to college directors and to general managers.

All important aspects, their traits that we all analyze. And I've seen some teams that have like 70 traits it feels like. And some teams, it's like 10 or 10 or 12 or whatever it is, where you're all kind of talking about the same thing. But I've gotten better at evaluating running backs, not my opinion, just like I track it every year. when I've when I've stopped trying to overcomplicate this shit how do how do they do they create yards on their own i think that Penn state touchdowns exhibit a i mean that is and you can do it with

and you can do it with power there and on this catch after the catch he does it with speed and i told told you about plazers pick and slide and the 99 yard one there wasn't a whole lot of beauty or vision or sharp cutting or wiggle or power or anything else. Just right. Inside handoff takes it left figures out of going off tackle here. And then that's 10, 7, 600 meter sprint comes in, right? So there's different ways to do it. Second quarter Virginia game that I told you before walking in for six.

It was this sweet little lateral cut. And can he, I don't know if he can, but like, it's a little, like, and we talked about whether it's slippery. And then you look at it over the season, you say, well, this guy only had, what was it? It was 163. So he had 191 offensive touches. Well, he generated 64 miss tackles forced. And with some guys, you're like, yeah, that was the speed. Or he's great at, like, stick his, play.

his foot in the dirt and accelerating he's a great fit for the shanaan offense if he does that this guy is shifty and all that we all the shh guys we talked about right what i what i really appreciate about his game is there's a whole bunch of ways he does it he does it with that four fourish speed he does it with that sharp cut he does it with the pick and slide he does it with the you know the the dip the the body the all target he does it with by being slippery he does it by breaking arm tackles and then he does it with the fuck you three to five yards at the end of runs that's a bunch of ways that's why i like him i think they're just a bunch of ways go ahead something else that jumped out to me when i'm watching his explosive runs and then just his speed and it kept i kept seeing and i was like wow these

nondon name receivers are blocking their ass off out here man yeah they are they are fighting and then it dawns him i'm like of course they are are they know that if they can secure that block, if they can stay, you know, just stay on the guy for two, three seconds. They've got a chance of this being a game changing play. You know, it's not like they're out there like, I'm not blocking for this four, seven ass. Well, you better block in Notre Dame because you don't get to run routes very often anyway. Right.

But there, you know, there's some guys out there like, man, this guy's never going to get here. He's never going to turn the corner and go. But when you got a guy like Jeremiah, love, it makes receivers. I really believe this. It makes receivers want to work. because they know the tape's going to show up and either one of two things is going to happen either that running backs run in 75 yards at the house and you look great or your guy makes the play and it prevents you from your offense from having a game shift in play so it's something that

stood out to me i was like man these guys really work for him they really want to secure their blocks they really want to stay body that's an interesting point i can't think of a great program where you don't say when you're done watching the tape boy those receivers block boy ohio state Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, even Oregon, Penn State. Think about it. I just, you just brought that to my head. Like, think about it. Yeah.

It's a sign of like respect for the program, right? And then when you have the guy like love who you know, like I could. And by the way, if you're in it for you, if you're just in it for you, but you got to fall in line with the program. program, you know what stands out to me more than anything? Like, we see unbelievable climb the ladder catches, plucks and runs and all this stuff, breaking ankles. When I see a receiver 20 yards down field and he flashes, I don't give a damn what year it is.

And like when I'm watching a different player and I see that as an evaluator, I'm rewinding, pausing, finding that number. Maybe he's a freshman mental note. maybe he's in this class, physical note. You know what I mean? Yeah. Side tangent based off a really good point you made, but go ahead. That's all I was going to say is that you're watching all these explosive runs and it's just sticking to me that there's always a defender downfield that's going by where his receivers walled them off.

And it's just, you know, of course you're going to block hard for that guy. You want to block hard for those guys that have that great speed. It's going to be interesting. I think he's, I think he's legitimately a first round back. Do you want to play the game of, want to play the game of where he would be in last year's class? We'll do that. Yeah. Yeah.

I'll name the guys that I, I think I have our rankings right. And he had to come out after. So he, he redshirted in 2022, had the red shirt freshman season, 23, same stat, same production, same tape. And then had the 2024 as a third year player. Right. So would you take, would you take him ahead of Ash and Genty? No. No.

Would you take him ahead of Omarian Hampton? No. No. Would you take him ahead of, we'll go with the way they went. No, we'll go with our rankings because I think that makes more sense for this argument. Would you take him ahead of Travian Henderson? We're starting to have a conversation, huh? Yeah, we are.

Yes. We're having a conversation. I might. Yeah. I might. I would say no. Probably lean no. Yeah, I'd probably lean no. Judkins, I'm taking love. Probably would. Yeah, I would over that. And I definitely would over Caleb Johnson.

I agree. I'm right with you. And we all like Caleb Johnson. If you had to choose between Henderson or love, I mean, guess, guess what? You're getting a great back either way, I think. So you're not really in a bad spot. I do think that Henderson's, and we said this all in the draft lead up, his. pass protection is different. And I think that's really what sets him apart. He catches the ball better. He's more dynamic in the passing game. And if you're making the argument for love,

you're saying a bigger frame, probably could be more of a bell, you know, more of a primary ball carrier. You could do that. Both battle injuries. Both may have to be, I shouldn't say battle. Both have had some signs of concern.

Yeah. Load management at the next level. But yeah. No, I think, yeah, I think that's fair. It would be third back is where the jumping off point the conversation would be. I would probably take him as the fourth back in last year's class, but off of my rankings, not necessarily off the board. So then let's go to this because Trayvon Henderson obviously was pushed down the board

by the two guys that went ahead of him in Hampton and Gentie, Gentie being a generational guy. Do you think that Love would be a first round guy if it wasn't, if he was, do you think love has a chance to go in the first round, or do you think he's more of a second round guy? I think he does. I think if he can stay healthy, show a little bit of improvement in the passing game. I think the run skills are absolutely there.

I think he's a first round running back in terms of his run skills. And I mean, all of it combined, the agility, the acceleration, the vision, the patience, the contact balance, the power, all those things combined. He is a first round running back. But the game is not just about that. In fact, the almost equal emphasis on the passing game. And so I think he's got to make some strides there. And quite honestly, like, it just wasn't a big pass happy offense.

So that's going to be interesting to see this year. But I think, yeah. I can't wait to watch him. Can't wait to watch him. I mean, he's so much fun to watch play. Me too. All right. Let's, yeah, let's wrap it up there.

Let's get out of here before we screw it up. We'll see you guys on Monday. Hope you're enjoying your summer. we will um i don't we got a whole schedule here we're doing oh i'm going to oh yeah i'm going to the passing academy manning passing academy i'm going to miss you there mensch uh it was the last minute thing pumped to go and talking with archie manning it's going to be a disaster from uh northeastern irishman from boston down in tibito louisiana in june late june uh so we're going to come back We'll talk about passing academy quarterbacks.

We'll kind of review and throw some of the insights in there when we come back next week. We also have, and we're going to take the 4th of July off. It's America. Celebrate America. For the love of goodness. America. And then we'll come back. We get Clemson's defense.

We're talking NFL rookie mailbag and a bunch of draft stuff. We're going to do wide receivers. We're going to do a bunch of different stuff. So we get an exciting lineup. But the Manning Passing Academy will be. something that we review next week and also and also kind of review all of our quarterbacks now i'm going to put your i'm going to put you to the fire with your quarterback rankings because i'm just i was so definitive last time

we did it i'm going to okay let's get out of here before we screw it up i'll see you guys next week see it must be 21 plus and present in select states for kansas in affiliation with kansas star casino or 18 plus and present in dc gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-78-88-88-88-7-777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helplinema.m.m.m.m.org or call 1-800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts.

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