SOUTH BEND — Former Notre Dame football star Jeremiyah Love is headed to the Arizona Cardinals.
Selected third overall Thursday night at the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, the electrifying running back became the highest pick for the Irish since quarterback Rick Mirer went second overall in 1993 to the Seattle Seahawks.
Love is the highest-drafted running back since the New York Giants took Saquon Barkley second overall out of Penn State in 2018.
“I feel honored to represent the running backs,” Love said in a televised interview at the draft. “I’m going to put on for them. I’m going to put on for all football players. I’m going to put on for Notre Dame. I’m going to put on for my family, and lastly, I’m going to put on for the Cardinals. We’re going to do some special things together.”
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said Love’s selection represented “a major sigh of relief” for the young star after “an abnormal EKG” at the NFL Scouting Combine raised questions about a possible heart condition.
Further testing, including his prior scans at Notre Dame, assured teams there were “no additional issues” with Love’s heart, according to Rapoport.
Coincidentally, Love’s touchdown celebration the past two seasons has featured him forming a heart shape with his hands.
The other top 10 selections from Notre Dame in the past three-plus decades were defensive lineman Bryant Young in 1994 (seventh overall), offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley in 2016 (sixth); offensive guard Quenton Nelson (sixth), and offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey (ninth) in 2018; and offensive tackle Joe Alt in 2024 (fifth).
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis had been the last Notre Dame running back selected in the first round. He went 10th to the Rams in 1993.
Greg Bell was a late first-round pick (26th overall) of the Buffalo Bills in 1984, and Vagas Ferguson went 25th overall to New England in 1980.
And now along comes Love, just the fourth first-round pick out of Notre Dame as a running back since the common draft era started in 1967.
According to spotrac.com, Love’s rookie contract should pay him in the range of $50.5 million over his first four seasons.
“The versatility this guy has as a player,” former Alabama coach turned ESPN analyst Nick Saban said during the pre-draft show. “(Teams) can use him as a wideout, they can use him out of the backfield. He’s going to be a mismatch guy.”
Saban, who tried to recruit Love for the Crimson Tide near the end of his coaching career, sees big things ahead for the Heisman Trophy finalist and Doak Walker Award winner.
“I think he’s going to carry the ball and be able to run for very productive yards,” Saban said. “I just think this guy is going to make a huge impact.”
Big plans: Jeremiyah Love promises he's just getting started as NFL Draft looms
With the Cardinals, Love joins a struggling franchise that has made the playoffs once in the past 10 years, losing in the wildcard round in 2021. After going 3-14 last season, their fourth straight losing year, the Cardinals fired coach Jonathan Gannon and replaced him with former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
With the Rams, LaFleur made good use of former Irish running back Kyren Williams, a fifth-round choice in 2022 who has surpassed 1,000 rushing yards in each of the past three seasons.
Like Williams, Love is a St. Louis product and a dangerous receiving threat out of the backfield. Williams made 102 receptions and scored eight receiving touchdowns in his three-year stint with LaFleur.
Older brother Matt LaFleur, the Green Bay Packers’ coach since 2019, spent the 2014 season coaching quarterbacks at Notre Dame. Mike LaFleur spent three seasons (2010-12) as an offensive assistant at now-defunct St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind.