Four-star RB Jeremiyah Love commits to Notre Dame football

Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame football program landed a major commitment on Saturday, with St. Louis Christian Brothers class of 2023 running back Jeremiyah Love announcing his decision to pick the Fighting Irish.

Love’s first offer came during the summer of 2021 from Missouri, but his recruiting process didn’t blow up until a couple months after his junior season concluded. Notre Dame offered Love a scholarship Feb. 28, and he visited South Bend for the first time a couple weeks later. He’s visited Notre Dame a total of four times, including Saturday.

He never formally announced a group of top schools, but Love took official visits to Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas A&M this past summer. It was the latter two schools that he ultimately decided between, and the Fighting Irish won out.

“Notre Dame just has more to offer academic-wise,” Love told BlueandGold.com before announcing his decision. “My family loves both Texas A&M and Notre Dame, but I think this is the best fit for us. Notre Dame can offer me more in the long run.”

Love mentioned the Irish staff and fan base as other major positives for Notre Dame, but it all comes back to the academic prestige.

“Those fans are crazy,” Love said. “The biggest deciding factor was academics. I leaned on that. It wasn’t anything big that separated the two schools; Notre Dame can help me out more in the future after football.”

Love is the nation’s No. 5 running back and No. 62 overall player according to the 2023 On3 Consensus. Notre Dame is up to 23 commits in the cycle and now has three running back verbals. Love joins Derby (Kan.) High’s Dylan Edwards and Lake Stevens (Wash.) High’s Jayden Limar on the running back commit list.

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More from Love on Notre Dame pledge

Love informed the Irish staff of his decision to commit last week.

“I told Coach Freeman and then talked to Coach [Deland] McCullough,” Love noted. “They were all very excited, saying all types of good stuff. We’re fired up to get this thing rolling.”

The 5-11, 190-pounder should be viewed more as an overall offensive weapon more than just a running back in offensive coordinator Tommy Rees’ scheme.

“I’ll be a wide receiver/running back,” he said. “I’ll be on kick return and punt return — anything to get me the ball. That’s how they plan to use me.”

National Signing Day is a little more than two months away for the 2023 class, and given Love’s superb talent it is likely that other schools will continue to recruit Love. The four-star back is focused on Notre Dame but will hear other programs out.

“As of now, I’m not doing anything [with other schools], but I wouldn’t say it’s completely shut down,” he explained. “I’m going to chill. I’ll still listen to what other schools have to say, but I’m just chilling.”

Love will enroll at Notre Dame next summer and will look to complete for playing time as a true freshman.

“I’m coming in to play and try to show out,” he said. “I want to show everyone what I can bring to the team, and hopefully, we can win a national championship.”

The Jeremiyah Love file

Through the first seven games of his senior season, Love has rushed for 448 yards and 9 touchdowns on 56 carries. He’s added 5 receptions for 143 yards and a score.

During his junior campaign, Love carried the ball 95 times and totaled 996 rushing yards and 14 scores. He caught 11 passes for 103 yards in the 2021 season, helping lead Christian Brothers to a Missouri 6A state championship triumph.

During his sophomore track season, Love was recorded running a 10.76 100-meter dash, and in the spring prior to his senior year, he had an electronically timed 4.48 second 40-yard dash to go with a 35-inch vertical and a 9-foot, 11-inch broad jump.

The Missouri Football Coaches Association named Love to its first-team all-state offense. The MFCA also listed him on its all-state academic first-team.

Love is committed to playing in the 2023 Under Armour All-America Game. He also held offers from Georgia, Oregon, Arkansas, LSU, Miami, Penn State, USC, Tennessee, Auburn and Wisconsin.

Love has an NIL valuation of $141,000, which ranks No. 99 in the HS Football NIL ranking. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.