Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah loves healthy and ready for physical slugfest

Notre Dame’s injuries on offense have been the hot topic in Atlanta this week as Marcus Freeman and his staff look to replace starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp while right guard Rocco Spindler works through an ankle injury.

The status of running back Jeremiah Love has been quietly under the radar, even though he wasn’t close to 100 percent in last week’s Orange Bowl.

Love, who has rushed for 1,122 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2024, has been dealing with a nagging knee injury dating back to the USC game, but he’s more than ready for Monday night’s title showdown with Ohio State.

“I feel good,” Love said. “We have a great training staff. So they made sure I felt 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 to trust my knee more and just started to play a little bit more freely.”

The native of St. Louis started the second half against Penn State and set the 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 after the Orange Bowl, but 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 after me at once. Yeah, I got to score that touchdown because of my teammates’ execution. We all work together 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 when he heckled a Penn State defender.

Hurdles have become a frequent feature. Love has used it in recent games and the country could see another on Monday, but you could also see him running over defenders.

“Whenever the opportunity presents itself or when a special play is needed, I’ll do whatever I have to do, whether it’s hurdling, whether it’s trucking or rigging, whatever it may be,” explained Love. “I think you could call it my signature move. If the opportunity presents itself on Monday, I might, but it also depends on the situation in the game. Whatever is needed for me and the team.”

Physicality has been a focus all year for Notre Dame, and Love knows the Irish will have to step it up once again to return home with a ring.

A year ago, Love got a little 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 game and do everything we have to do to win. It’s just the result of our coaches doing a good job training us and telling us to get it extra yard if you can or if the opportunity presents itself and you have to score a touchdown you have to do it no matter what if there are three guys on you, four guys, one guy, you just have to get it to happen.”

As showtime gets 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 care,” Love said. “We’re used to being underdogs. It’s great. A lot of people don’t expect much from us, but we’ve been at this point all season. After our loss to NIU, we’ve pretty much played a championship game every week since then. So we is used to the feeling.

“We don’t really care. We’re going to go out and play our game, execute the way we’re supposed to and play with each other, play with love.”

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