You can’t put a price on love. But Price and Love are inseparable.
Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love starred at Notre Dame playing the same position for the past three seasons, so it only felt natural when each was invited to attend the NFL Combine earlier this offseason.
“We’re roommates during this process,” Price said from Indianapolis before going through the combine workouts, “and we were roommates at Notre Dame on the road. So, this just feels like an away game for us.”
If there was any question that Love and Price formed one of the greatest running backs duos in college football history, consider that they are universally expected to be the top two running backs selected in the NFL Draft later this month in Pittsburgh.
This past season, Love and Price combined for 2,413 yards from scrimmage and 34 touchdowns in 12 games for the Fighting Irish. What makes their 2025 tandem more amazing is that the duo combined for 2,118 yards from scrimmage and 26 touchdowns the prior season while helping Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff national championship game.
In today’s NIL and free-transfer era, that the two stuck together despite lucrative offers of cash and additional playing time from other schools speaks to their loyalty to Notre Dame and the closeness of their bond with each other.
“During the process, you don’t really realize, like, how special the situation is,” Price said, “and the impact you’re having on everyone else. But I realized that when we left Notre Dame (because of) the amount of people who were reaching out to me, ‘I wish he could stay,’ (or), ‘I’m so happy that y’all chose to go to Notre Dame and the things that y’all did the past couple of seasons.’
“It really made me proud of what I did at Notre Dame. But it was time for me to go to the (NFL). The things that me and Jeremyiah have done have been great. But we’re going to be great NFL backs.”
They sure are, if the scouts and draft analysts are to believed. Love, a Heisman Trophy finalist, is viewed as a virtual lock to be only the third running back selected with a top-10 pick over the past eight years.
Price also has a chance to go in the first round.
“He could (have been) a No. 1 back,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said of Price during a conference call with media. “If he was playing anywhere else, he would have been. He just happened to be playing with Jeremiyah Love. But he’s got vision and balance, he breaks tackles, he can catch the ball out of the backfield.
“He didn’t get as many opportunities because of Love. But he’s someone that I think he’s got a chance to be a three-down, complete (NFL) back.”
So, of course, does Love. Jeremiah and ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper have him as their No. 2 overall prospect behind presumed No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. But ESPN’s Matt Miller and Jordan Reid are among those who grade Love as this draft’s best overall player.
Positional value — and the projection of Mendoza as a franchise quarterback — mean Love will not be the top selection. But he could be the first running back taken in the top five since Penn State’s Saquon Barkley went No. 2 to the New York Giants in 2018.
“He’s so versatile,” Kiper said. “If he were just a running back, we wouldn’t be saying (he is such an elite prospect). Because he’s so versatile and you can do so many things creatively with him, that’s why.”
Love and Price aren’t the lone set of college teammates who will be drafted between April 23-25. Penn State also has a pair expected to be taken in the middle rounds in Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, each of whom widely evaluated as among the top 10 at their shared position.
The speedy Singleton graduated as the Nittany Lions’ career leader in touchdowns (55), rushing touchdowns (45) and all-purpose yards (5,586). The bruising Allen is the program’s all-time rushing leader (4,180).
“I think they’re the best running backs in the draft,” said former Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, himself a mid-round draft prospect. “I definitely think they’re the two most complete backs in the country. And I think their production at Penn State speaks for itself.”