There is not a single back in the country returning to college football in 2026 with more intrigue than Jeremiyah Love. The recently-turned 20-year old arrived in South Bend as a four star recruit and track star with a state championship, sub-10.80 100 meter to his name. At 213 pounds, that speed is rare and it translates to the field as seen in his 98-yard touchdown run against Indiana (the second-ranked defense nationally) in the College Football Playoffs. Love did tweak his knee late in the year and suffered a hamstring injury this past spring but he is expected to be at full strength come August 31 against Miami.
Let’s take a look at what makes Love a likely top-15 pick in the 2026 Draft which would be the fourth time since 2023 we have seen a back go that high.
Size/Speed. Love unofficially measures in at 6 feet tall, 213 pounds which puts him in a similar mold to Breece Hall. The speed, based on GPS tracking from game tape and his track background projects to a sub 4.40 forty. While there is more to evaluating speed than these numbers, simply put, Love is going to be top-shelf when it comes to this area of the grade sheet.
Breaking Tackles. Personally, this is a metric I pay attention more to than any other at the position. It translates well to the league but it also means a lot to NFL evaluators if one considers how high teams will pick these guys. Ashton Jeanty, the first back taken in 2024, led the country in missed tackles forced and yards after contact last year. Bijan Robinson, the previous top ten back, led the nation in missed tackles forced in 2022 and finished second in the NFL this past season behind Derrick Henry. Love, on limited carries, ranks fifth in missed tackles forced among backs that are returning but the rate at which he did it was higher than all big four backs.
Change of Direction. Love has the burst and speed, as already noted. But equally important to the position is a back's ability to bend his vertical movement and miss contact. This is another area where Love has true standout ability. The pliability in his lower body joints was on full display against Penn State on one of the more impressive short yardage touchdown runs I saw all year. Love shows the lateral movement traits with a sense of loose stability that can make it a chore to get clean contact on him.
Pass Game Contributions. Over his first two seasons in South Bend, Love has been targeted 40 times. He has 36 catches for 314 yards and three touchdowns. Just ten of those catches were not behind the line of scrimmage and all but one were simply dump offs or routes run into the flat. Love is dangerous in the open field but there is hesitation to his decision making post-catch that needs to be cleaned up. As a pass protector, Love hits his assignments and shows enough desire. There is some one and done to his blocking but he showed some pop against both Jalon Walker and Abdul Carter in the playoffs. Overall, Love is an average pass game contributor.
The running back demand league-wide remains strong. 26 of them were drafted last April (the most since 2017) and watching what both Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry did after receiving pay days a year ago in addition to Ashton Jeanty going sixth overall in the 2025 Draft, Love is a good season away from being a first rounder and likely top 15 selection next April.