{"id":489844,"date":"2026-02-21T11:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/489844\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T11:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:43:08","slug":"two-notre-dame-rbs-in-the-first-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/489844\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Notre Dame RBs in the first round?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 21, 2026, 5:31 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Every college football and NFL fan probably knows the name of Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. The 20-year-old is the best running back available for the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. There are some who think Love may be the top talent in April’s draft and is almost certain to be drafted inside the top 10.<\/p>\n

The Washington Commanders<\/a> could be on the hunt for another running back. Some mock drafts have the Commanders<\/a> selecting Love with the No. 7 overall pick. That seems doubtful, but if Washington goes heavy on defense in free agency, and Love is the best available player remaining on the board, it’s possible.<\/p>\n

This running back class isn’t considered as deep as the 2025 class. The Commanders landed one of the 2025 NFL Draft’s top rookie running backs, Jacory Croskey-Merritt, in the seventh round. Croskey-Merritt, aka “Bill,” rushed for over 800 yards, eight touchdowns and averaged 4.6 yards per attempt. Not bad for a seventh-round pick.<\/p>\n

The second-best prospect in this class just happens to be Love’s Notre Dame teammate: Jadarian Price. Price played four seasons at Notre Dame, appearing in 41 games, rushing for 1,692 yards and 21 touchdowns. He averaged six yards per rushing attempt.<\/p>\n

Anytime Price got a chance to play for the Fighting Irish, he showed off his numerous NFL traits. Next week, Price will head to Indianapolis for the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. He has a chance to impress NFL scouts and convince them he can be a lead back at the next level.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

What is Price’s draft ceiling? NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah held his pre-combine conference call on Friday, and he said he can see Price going in the first round, specifically to the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n

“I think he can be a No. 1 back,” he said<\/a>, via Dan Parr of NFL.com. “If he was playing anywhere else, he would have been. He just happened to be playing with Jeremiyah Love. … He’s someone that I think has a chance to be a three-down, complete back, which would be a great pairing with RJ Harvey for that group.”<\/p>\n

There are surprises in every NFL draft. Hearing Price could be a first-round pick is a bit of a surprise. Most analysts had him projected to go in either the second or third round. Jeremiah is well-connected, so if he’s putting this out there, it’s a real possibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 21, 2026, 5:31 a.m. ET Every college football and NFL fan probably knows the name of Notre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[159202,49,48,514,82,183675,183676,181113,160670,163020,159798,160668,181112,160683,160710,159095,159089,162919,159085],"class_list":{"0":"post-489844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-sstssportsnflcommanders","14":"tag-sstsncommanders","15":"tag-tag2026-nfl-draft","16":"tag-tagamerican-football","17":"tag-tagcollege-sports","18":"tag-tagnational-sports","19":"tag-tagnfl","20":"tag-tagnfl-draft","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","23":"tag-tagoverall-positive","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","26":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}