An Ode to Jeremiyah Love’s Last Time in South Bend

In college sports, players’ time has always felt so short. A quick three, maybe four seasons of seeing your best players has always been so bittersweet. Heck, nowadays it feels like getting to see a generational talent stay in your school’s colors for 3 years is almost like witnessing a damn moon landing. It just doesn’t happen much in today’s world of transfers & NIL. So with what most likely is Jeremiyah Love’s final game in South Bend Saturday, I can’t help but be left feeling a certain type of way.

It’s not too often you get players like this, the ones who leave you on the edge of your seat not just wanting something incredible to happen but expecting it. For Notre Dame, I can really only think of a few from Brady Quinn to Tom Zbikowski or even Xavier Watts. Now that isn’t to say we haven’t had dudes come through Notre Dame Stadium leaving their mark.

I could write one of my longest blogs ever just naming former Irish in the trenches who have made ND what it is today. This is more of the .01% club, the type of player you don’t just replace or reload a new version of. No, no, no. You cherish & take in every last drop you can, because before you know it you’ve blinked & this chapter is quickly coming to an end.

In big-time college football, like with the Irish, you are told it seems in every recruiting class there’s a guy... not just any guy, but the one who will change ND football. But you see, unfortunately reality sets in & the truth is you don’t always get that. But with Love, it all came to fruition & oh so much more.

Though in his freshman year his looks were limited, you already could see it. Sometimes you can’t explain it even as a coach, let alone a fan. Some players just have that extra gear only a select few can find., it's like they are born different in an incredible way. Jeremiyah showed us Irish-crazed fans he had that special sauce.

With the backfield finally his these past two seasons, he has found new ways to leave us even more in Love (yes it’s corny, but you say cheesy things when in Love (uh shoot, double parentheses, that can't be allowed right, but I did double cliché too) so let me have this).

From breaking records & making new ones, including a 98-yard burst in the CFB Playoffs under the lights of Notre Dame Stadium (sorry Katic & WBR if you're reading, love y’all). If I ever get amnesia, I’ve made a tape for myself 50 First Dates style to remember my wife & that play to fall in love all over again with Notre Dame football.

Even though after breaking records & helping break what felt like curses of big games getting us to the national title winning a home playoff game, Sugar Bowl, & Orange Bowl. He somehow has gone to another level this year. Now trying to get the team back to a playoff run, he is finally getting the Heisman recognition he fully deserves. Each week it’s not just highlight plays but ones that find a way to top the week before.

Love has found a way to help make the Irish cool again as well, an accomplishment that shouldn’t go unnoticed, as my whole life all I’ve heard is “why do you like ND they suck, or damn I hate ND” but now everyone wants to see what Love & ND will do next it feels. Hell, even Barstool Big Cat bet him as his Heisman winner.

While I am holding out the biggest hope for a home playoff game yet again, all of us can’t be stuck in those what-ifs. Instead, Jeremiyah Love deserves the send-off of the century just in case this is the last time we see #4 in Notre Dame Stadium. He has given his all to the university over the past 3 years... from crazy runs to perfect chip blocks to running over USC not once but twice to bringing back ND to true title contenders!

Thank you, Jeremiyah Love, from Irish Nation.