Notre Dame’s 28-7 win over Boise State last weekend wasn’t the cleanest performance of the season for the offense, but it got the job done.
Perhaps the biggest scare of the day came when running back Jeremiyah Love stayed down after a run in the first half.
The stadium fell silent, and countless fans watching at home held their breath as Love sat on the turf.
“I got tackled a little weird,” explained Love. “The guy was laying on my knee, but I didn't feel like any pops or anything like that. It just felt weird in the moment. I just kind of sat there, held my knee. I was a little tired too, so I stayed down, I was getting a little break.”
Notre Dame’s training staff did put Love’s leg and knee through all the tests before letting him return to play.
Love has had a few awkward falls in games and even in practice, which raises concern among those watching. Yet, most of the time when Love is slow to get up, he’s taking a break.
“People say I fall like I'm messed up, but the whole time I just let myself fall.” Love said. “When I'm falling, I'm just going to fall and tumble or whatever I have to do. But yeah, not really thinking about everybody else, but if I'm really down, you'll know.
“I just be out there trying to catch a breath wherever I can. That was just one of the moments.”
The St. Louis native has made multiple highlight hurdles during his career and Boise State was the first team to stop him. It was a rare sight to see, but it won’t stop Love from trying to do it again, especially as the coaching staff hasn’t told him to slow down, as it’s a part of his game.
“I would say when I jump, it's just because I scout people and I see how people tackle when I watch film,” Love stated. “If I know that you're a low tackler and most people are, why not jump?
“I feel like a lot of people don't understand that when people are teaching people how to tackle, they're teaching 'em to go at your thigh or almost go at your knees. When I'm scouting and looking at how people tackle, I'm almost anticipating that that's what you're going to do. I don't think I'm jumping too much. A lot of people probably say that because they don't want me to get hurt, but I know what I'm doing when I'm in the air.”
And yes, Love does work on hurdling and everything else in his arsenal during practice. Right now, Love is trying to perfect his spin move, which was very effective against Arkansas when he scored four touchdowns.
“Whenever I'm out in practice, I just do moves that I could potentially do in a game,” said Love. “You have to work your craft every single day. I work my spin move probably every week. I work on hurdling whenever I can and just to get repetition at it because you never know when that moment might come in a game. I almost want it to be muscle memory.”
Love also knows opponents are scouting him and are aware he can leap over them at any point. The 6-foot, 214-pounder noticed Boise State’s defenders were playing a little higher than normal, which is also a positive for Love.
“The last game, they were just standing up,” Love recalled. “They almost anticipate I'm going to do it. I think that's just terrible tackling form because if I don't hurdle, you're just standing up, I'm just going to run past you, and they're not going to be in position to catch me or like say, I want to truck you, you're not going to be in position.”
The Notre Dame world believes Love has some Ricky Watters in his game. Love didn’t disagree, but gave a long list of running backs he watches on a regular basis.
“What I hear from a lot of people is I run Ricky Watters,” Love stated. “I don't necessarily know all of these players and how they run or what their playing style is. I watch Jahmyr Gibbs, Saquon (Barkley), Alvin Kamara, like him back in the day. Marshawn Lynch. I just like how he runs. He's a very physical runner. Derrick Henry. I like how physical he is.
“I just see how people play. Like, Jahmyr. I like how quick he plays. He's very explosive, so I try to watch him and think of myself doing some of the things that he does. Saquon, he's very explosive, too. Hurdling obviously from him. But yeah, nobody really, I'm like, ‘Oh, I'm going to take that move, do it myself.’”
Reggie Bush is also a popular name mentioned when discussing Love’s game.
It’s hard to argue the comparison, but Love doesn’t have a feeling either way as of now.
“I have not watched Reggie Bush,” said Love. “I hear a lot about him, but I've never really seen him play for real. I know he won the Heisman, so maybe I'll have to do my research on him and look how he runs.”
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