NFL Draft: Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love put on a show at the NFL Combine

As the weekend rolls on and the NFL Combine continues, we finally got to the running backs group. We’ve seen combines in the past that had some of the best players sit out and not run and/or test, but both Notre Dame running backs were there to show why they were rated as the top two running backs in the draft.

Jeremiyah Love is considered by many to be the best player in the NFL Draft regardless of position. He is all but guaranteed to be a top 10 pick, and really didn’t have much to prove at the combine — but he did it anyway. What he “did” was put on a show that not only cemented himself as a top 10 pick, but possibly a top 5 pick.

If there was a question mark to Jeremiyah Love, it was what his speed actually was. Sure — we all know he’s fast for college football, but what will his 40 time be? How fast can he be in the NFL? Well… he did it. With little room to impress, he impressed with a 4.37 and a 4.36 time.

After that, the field drills went about as well as you think they would with an athlete of this caliber. Love looked every bit of the complete package that has been talked about over the last weeks and months.

After he was all done, Love felt pretty good about himself, and was ready to celebrate. How might he celebrate? With the thing that he sacrificed over the last few months — a chocolate shake.

This was the fastest running back group in combine history, and even though Love ran the second fastest time for running backs this year, he looked every bit of the part of future All-Pro. Everything he did looked good… even a back flip.

Now comes the crazy part. Will the Arizona Cardinals or the New York Giants swoop in to take Love before the New Orleans Saints? Time will tell, and even though taking a running back with a top 5 pick seems like the wrong move for some teams… you simply can’t go wrong with Love.

Price has also been firmly slotted in the upcoming draft, but as the #2 running back to come off of the board. When you watch Price on film, there’s really no question that he should be the #2 RB selected, but as always — people want that 40 time.

Jadarian didn’t provide the “wow” factor that Love gave, but a 4.49 40 yard dash time is more than enough to show he has the speed needed to be a big play guy at the next level.

To be fair, as a pure running back, there are certain parts of Price’s game that are better than Love’s and he did really well in the field drills.

Price has been flirted as a possible late 1st round pick, but if not, he’s going quickly in the second round. Maybe he needed a sub 4.4 40 to be that first rounder, but again, the tape of his game alone shows he’s worthy.

I don’t know how he did on the field drills, but Malachi Fields’s 40 time was alarming for a lot of people. Fields ran a 4.61 and quickly the talk of “not a first rounder” came running to social media. There was talk that the Buffalo Bills would grab him in the first, but that was still something very much in the air.

Still… even if Fields falls to the 2nd or 3rd round, it’s still a massive jump up from where he was before the Senior Bowl. He’ll be fine.