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Every year, summer scouting produces a consensus of top prospects destined for the first round of the next NFL Draft. And like clockwork, the ensuing season knocks many of them off course. There's too much time between the beginning of the season and the NFL Draft for accuracy to win out. Between injuries, developmental hiccups, and the emergence of other stars, it's not uncommon for a preseason first-round pick to find that stock in question quickly.
That's been most apparent at the quarterback position, where a six-man race for QB1 has turned into quite the mess. However, Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love also entered the season with top-10 hype and whispers of blue-chip status.
Notre Dame is winless through two weeks, bearing the brunt of a front-loaded schedule. Love hasn't played particularly poorly, but he hasn't dominated, either, and the chance for him to assert himself as a true top prospect may have evaporated.
Love's path to being the next top-10 pick at running back
Ashton Jeanty set the bar last season with a Heisman-contending campaign that carried Boise State to the College Football Playoff. He and former Texas star Bijan Robinson are the best running back prospects of the post-Saquon Barkley era of draft discourse.
Subsequently, they represent the kind of stock Love must generate to earn a top-10 selection. He may have begun the season near blue-chip territory, but Notre Dame's sluggish start didn't do him any favors.
- Week 1 at Miami: 10 rushes, 33 yards, 0 TD, four catches, 26 yards, 0 TD
- Week 2 vs. Texas A&M: 23 rushes, 94 yards, 1 TD, four catches, 53 yards, 1 TD
Love looked off in his season opener -- albeit against an excellent front seven -- and performed better against the Aggies. Neither performance saw him post more than 4.1 yards per attempt.
I'm not here to tell you that Love isn't a great prospect because he had an underwhelming showing in the box score. But it was always going to take a right-tailed outcome for Love to earn the kind of draft capital once expected of him, and a 90th-percentile outcome for this season would have meant dominant performances against the best teams on Notre Dame's schedule.
Instead, the Fighting Irish lost both games, and Love looked more pedestrian than generational. Now, he might not have the runway to make up ground. The Fighting Irish will likely have to win out to make the College Football Playoff and provide Love with the type of high-profile clash that evaluators want to invest in.
MORE: 2026 NFL Draft prospects who can boost their stock in conference play
Notre Dame's back is against the wall, but USC is the only (current) ranked team left on the schedule. Winning out is a real possibility. Yet, it leaves Love without late-season contests against elite competition. He should dominate the rest of the way. How much will it matter if it's coming against Pitt and NC State?
Jeanty built a bulletproof statistical case for RB1. Robinson was far and away the best ball carrier in the nation. On my board, Love began the year as an early-second-round prospect and the RB2 behind Penn State's Nick Singleton. The latter hasn't necessarily run away with anything, either, but a slate of Big Ten games and a presumed date in the College Football Playoff earn him additional bites at the apple.
Love might not get those opportunities. With his toughest opponents behind him, Love has some catching up to do, and the perception of his upcoming contests is yet another obstacle to clear on his path to the 2026 NFL Draft.
There's still room for Love to be a first-round pick in April. Entering Week 4, though, it seems far more likely that Love finds himself as a late-Day 1 option, rather than a class-defining back the Fighting Irish faithful had hoped to boast.
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