Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 13, 2025 19 West Virginia and Florida A&M, wanted his running backs to understand de- fensive fronts and blocking schemes to better inform them of what to do with the ball in their hands. The lessons led to the game slowing down for Price. The frantic energy he played with last season has been chan- neled elsewhere while he plays under control. "I'm a smarter football player," Price said. "With the knowledge I have now, I think I could have played quarterback back in high school — probably not col- lege level, but back in high school. It's a pretty good attribute to have being able to see the field. "We're back there with the quarter- back, so we see what he sees. It helps us a lot in the pre-snap reads and under- standing who's on block, who we need to read, who are the blitzers, things like that." The information Price ingests before the snap can help make decisions on the fly. That doesn't mean he's always going to have a chance to break a long run, but he should have a better anticipation for when that's actually possible. "We always say 'slow to, fast through,' which is slow through the mesh and fast through the hole," Seider said. "He was always fast, fast, fast, and he wasn't let- ting plays develop. "I think the growth mindset, under- standing fronts, how are we attacking fronts or even the back half and teach- ing them coverage and where they can fit has helped. That's what JD is talking about; he's starting to understand the big picture of football, not just playing the position of running back." QUEST TO BE THE BEST No one loves two-back sets more than running backs. So, of course, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Price was excited to learn of offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock's willingness to work more two-back sets into this season's plans. "We've been asking for this back when Coach McCullough was here," Price said. "Coach Denbrock finally has listened to us, so we'll have a lot in store this upcoming fall." The tandem of Love and Price on the field at the same time can present challenges to opposing defenses. But Price needed to prove he could be used in more ways before it became a reality. Last season, Notre Dame often opted to keep Price off the field in third-down situations. The trust he's gained from the coaching staff to be more well- rounded resulted in head coach Marcus Freeman describing Price as extremely important to the offense. "He is as complete a back as anybody in our running backs room," Freeman said. "He's done an excellent job of taking care of the football. His natu- ral, God-given abilities are well-seen in terms of what he does on the field. "The work he's put in to become a dependable blocker in protection, to use him in the pass game, is growth I've seen in Jadarian. 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." Seider, who spent the last seven seasons at Penn State, left a running back duo that rushed for a combined 2,207 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. Even though both Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Single- ton returned for the Nittany Lions this offseason, he saw an opportunity to con- tinue to grow at Notre Dame. Notre Dame proved to be a better team than Penn State in January with a 27-24 win in the College Football Play- off semifinal. It might be able to prove it has a better running back combination this season. Without Price's selflessness and dedication to improve, that wouldn't be possible. "The mindset is clear," Price said. "We want to be the best running back room in the country, but we also just want to get better every week. We know we're not going to be perfect. No one's perfect. We just want to do better than we did the week before." ✦ Rather than transfer in search of a bigger role after rushing for 746 yards and 7 touchdowns last season, Price came back to Notre Dame motivated by the national championship loss. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER