College football analyst claims Jeremiyah Love "absolutely capable" of leading Notre Dame to CFP

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love was certainly a massive piece in the Fighting Irish's 2024 success. The featured back established himself as one of college football's most explosive players in the nation.

On3's J.D. PicKell certainly agrees as he explained on "The Hard Count" this week. PicKell believes that Love has what it takes to carry the program back to the College Football Playoff tournament in 2025 after the team reached the national championship game in 2024.

"Jeremiyah Love is 1000 percent the best running back in college football," PicKell said. "And as of right now, man, look at who the two best running backs were last year in college football. Ashton Jeanty, Cam Skattebo. Both made the playoff. Jeremiyah Love is absolutely capable of carrying Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff yet again.

"He didn't have more than 16 carries in any game that he played in and still had over 1,000 yards rushing. That is stupid. To not have more than 20 carries in any game and still be over 1,000 yards? That's video game stuff."

Jeremiyah Love is the most explosive player Notre Dame has seen in years

J.D. PicKell pointed out that it has been a while since Notre Dame has had a player as explosive as Jeremiyah Love. He had to go back to wide receiver Will Fuller V, who played for the program from 2013 to 2015. He was eventually drafted in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans.

NCAA Football: CFP National Championship-Ohio State at Notre Dame - Source: Imagn

Fuller possessed game-changing speed that could break a game wide open. However, as PicKell points out, Notre Dame won't need to launch deep bombs to Love the way they did with Fuller. Instead, Love is being handed the rock directly, and he has the opportunity to house it on any one of those carries.

"So all those things compound for me to think that he's about to have another massive season, he's not sneaking up on anybody, but he's going to be the best player on the field, I believe, in every game Notre Dame plays this upcoming season," PicKell added.

Love is entering his junior season with the Fighting Irish and, if he declares, will most certainly be an early first-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft. As the centerpiece of a strong program led by coach Marcus Freeman, Love may be able to lead Notre Dame to another national championship game, but this time with a different outcome.