Notre Dame star running back Jeremiyah Love is expected to be one of the first players selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, and he recently sat down with Sports Illustrated to answer 10 burning questions.
During the interview, Love opened up about which trait he’d steal from a rival running back, and he gave Baltimore Ravens star Derrick Henry his flowers.
NFL Draft Prospect Jeremiyah Love Wants to Steal Derrick Henry’s Stiff Arm
When asked if there was one trait he’d take from any running back in NFL history, Love shouted out Henry’s signature stiff arm.
“I would take a Derrick Henry stiff arm,” Love said. “He be throwin’ guys, I am definitely taking that. I don’t really stiff arm a lot of people, but if I had that in my bag, I feel like I’d be even more of a complete back.”
New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen recently heaped praise on Love’s game, saying, “He’s an offensive weapon. He’s not just a running back. He can play on third down. You can split him out. He can catch the ball. Certainly an offensive weapon.”
One of Love’s best games in his junior season was a Nov. 22 matchup against Syracuse, and the Fighting Irish dominated en route to a 70-7 victory. In that game, Love scored three touchdowns and rushed for 171 yards on eight carries. In a 34-24 win against USC on Oct. 18, Love ran for 228 yards on 24 carries and scored a touchdown.
The Fighting Irish finished 2025 with a 10-2 record in Love’s last season with the program. Despite losing their first two games to Miami and Texas A&M, respectively, the team bounced back and won their last 10 games of the 2025 season.
Henry is one of the most prolific running backs in the NFL. Henry was the sixth-best running back in the NFL last season, per PFSN’s RB Impact metric, as he rushed for 1,595 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Love’s NFL Projection and Scouting Report
Here is Love’s NFL scouting report from PFSN’s NFL Mock Draft Simulator:
Love has followed in the footsteps of Ashton Jeanty and Bijan Robinson as the next RB prospect to contend for early first-round capital. At 6’0″, 214 pounds, Love is a bit lighter and leaner than his predecessors, but he nonetheless plays above his weight class in terms of physicality, and he’s an elastic, turbocharged long-strider whose blend of short-area quickness, throttle freedom, and breakaway speed routinely leaves defenders in the lurch.
As an athlete, Love has superlative short-range and long-range dynamic ability, which he maximizes with sharp vision, patience, spatial IQ, and manipulative tendencies setting up gaps.
And while he’s not the heaviest, he’s able to work through contact nonetheless with his balance, lower-body action, and fearless tenacity. Overall, Love is a bona fide RB1, who also excelled as a receiving threat and RAC weapon in 2025. He bears similarity to Ahman Green, and has a productive career with All-Pro potential in his future.
