Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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18 SEPT. 13, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER JAMES N otre Dame running back Jer- emiyah Love doesn't lack for attention. The leading rusher for the Irish as a sophomore last season be- came a star in college football with awe-inspiring feats of athleticism. The spotlight followed him through the offseason culminating with a story he penned for The Players' Tribune on the pain of a national championship loss and the drive to win a title days before the season opener at Miami. The shadow cast by Love was so wide in the preseason that the first questions fellow running back Jadarian Price faced in an interview session with local writ- ers in early August were about Love's "Jeremonstar" comic book. There's no doubt Love deserves the attention as one of the best running backs in college football, but Price made a pretty strong case as a first-rate sidekick. As Notre Dame prepares to play Texas A&M, Love's 21-yard touchdown run that put the Irish up seven points with 1:54 remaining in last year's 23-13 win over the Aggies might come to mind f i rs t . B u t P r i ce 's 47-yard touchdown r u n i n t h e t h i rd quarter gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game with a much-needed ex- plosive play for the offense. Price, now a redshirt junior, has one more opportunity to play well against a Texas A&M program that didn't offer him a scholarship out of Denison (Texas) High. Price won't make the matchup about himself. He'll remain a team player with no concern about working in the shadows. "He's the perfect guy for that," said C4 Sports Performance founder Sean Cooper, who's worked with Price since he was 14 years old. "There's not many people that are the perfect guy for that, but he just naturally was. Who he is as a person, he's the perfect guy for that." Price didn't turn to the transfer por- tal looking for a bigger role after rush- ing for 746 yards and 7 touchdowns on 120 carries last season. He came back to Notre Dame motivated by the national championship loss. "I was so excited to come back and be with this team again," Price said. "It's a new team. We got a couple new faces, but the relationships stay the same. We're all in this together. We got a common goal. "It doesn't matter who we face up against or what happens, we're just go- ing to go in, week in and week out, and take care of business. It's a lot of moti- vation. That's one of the things that's going to motivate me throughout the season, for sure." FINDING WAYS TO IMPROVE When Notre Dame hired running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider in February, he became the third Irish running backs coach connected to Price. Lance Taylor, who left Notre Dame to become Louis- ville's offensive coordinator in 2022, re- cruited Price. Then Deland McCullough coached Price the past three seasons before returning to the NFL to coach for the Las Vegas Raiders. Cooper, who works with Price when- ever he spends time at home and most recently in May, gives McCullough a lot of credit in building Price's confidence. "I think McCullough was really crucial for him, because JD is really, really quiet and reserved," Cooper said. "McCullough really brought him out of his shell. "That was all God. That was a match made in heaven at that time in that phase of his life. That was exactly what he needed. He needed a coach that was doing the curls when they walked in the meeting room and talking. You know how McCullough gonna talk. He gonna talk his noise, and he's gonna be that. I think he needed that, and he needed to be around that kind of figure every day." The impact Seider made on Price in the offseason came with a lot of learn- ing. Seider, who played quarterback at RISING PRICE Running back Jadarian Price might not outshine Jeremiyah Love, but he's increasing his value to Notre Dame's offense "He is an extremely selfless person. He's a guy that could demand 20, 30 touches a game. You're not going to get that at Notre Dame. Not with the running backs room we have. But he's a guy that makes the most of his opportunities. He's a team-first guy." HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN ON PRICE