Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 4, 2025 53 J adarian Price lunged for the goal line, but he was just short. Not by much, but enough that it was an easy call. Price knew it, too, and as soon as he popped up, he looked toward the Notre Dame sideline and beckoned his finger at fellow running back Jeremiyah Love. " C o m e o n i n ," P r i c e seemed to say. Love didn't budge, but Price kept walking toward the bench. He then held up three fingers on his right hand, and that message was even clearer: "Come get your third." Price already had 3 touch- downs during Notre Dame's 56-30 win over Purdue. Love had 2. It was only fair, after all. But Love didn't budge. "I was fricking tired as hell, so, you got it," Love said, laughing. "I'm just playing. The reason I didn't go in was because I didn't have my helmet on. Coach didn't put me in because I didn't have my hel- met on. That was on me." Price stayed in, and one play later, he got his fourth. Their goal heading into the game was 6 touchdowns between the two of them, and they didn't much care about the split. That speaks vol- umes about Price in particular because he got 9 carries to Love's 19. Including a kickoff return, Price scored 4 touchdowns and totaled 216 all-purpose yards on just 11 touches. He is one of the most overqualified backups in college football, but again he doesn't care. And that, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will tell you, is what makes him special. "I'll say this every time you ask about JD [Price]: Yes, he is talented, but he's the most unselfish individual, along with others, on our team," Freeman said. "That's what I want to point out. Not his great play. Not his touchdowns. But that guy, that individual, could have the ball on the field every single play. "What does he do? He says, 'Coach, if you want J-Love in there, put him in there. When I get my opportunity, I'm going to make the most of it.'" With the best running back in the country set to return for one more year, Price could have easily gone somewhere else this offseason. He would have been one of the hottest commodities in the transfer portal. Odds are he would earn a larger paycheck than he earns now at Notre Dame. That's not lost on Freeman, either. "I'm sure he probably had people that did want him," Freeman said. "And it's a credit to his belief in this university, his belief in this football program that he can reach all the goals that he has being right here at Notre Dame in the same running back room with Jeremiyah Love and some of those other guys." There is no ceiling on what Price and Love can accomplish together in 2025, because they're as perfect a running back tandem as one can imagine. It's not thunder and lightning, because Love is also lightning. But there's a certain beauty in why it works so well. Take Price's first score. Notre Dame had been bashing Purdue on the ground, with Love run- ning for gains of 3, 6, 4, 17, 8 and 4 yards as the Irish drove down to the Boilermakers' 21-yard line. By the sixth carry, Love was exhausted. Purdue was exhausted. Price was fresh as a daisy, and he outraced everyone to the pylon on his very first snap. Love and Price are also dif- ferent types of players. Love is a complete nightmare for opposing defenses; he'll run through you as easily as he'll run around you. He can use brute force if he wants to, or he can break out his lethal spin move or hurdle when defenses get too aggressive to counter it. Price, however, is a one- cut-and-go back who pre- fers a different style to make defenders miss. When he gets out in space, he'll hit them with a head fake that causes them to hesitate just enough for him to get the edge. It's subtle, but it's just as deadly. Most importantly, he has no problem waiting until Love has worn down the opposing defense to break it out. "That's just what we do here at Notre Dame," Price said. "The team comes first. Whatever we need to do to get our first win of the season. … Whether that's scoring 6 touchdowns or scoring 0. It doesn't matter to me." Love, meanwhile, has no problem let- ting Price finish what he started. "Say I see a specific look in a game, and I happen to not hit the hole where I'm supposed to, or I don't make this guy miss," Love said. "JD comes in, and I relay that information to him of a spe- cific look. He takes that knowledge, and he does what I didn't do the last play. "That's really it. JD, we feed off of each other." ✦ Unselfishness Fuels Nation's Best Running Back Duo Staff writer Jack Soble has covered Notre Dame athletics for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2023. Contact him at Jack.Soble@on3.com. OFF THE DOME JACK SOBLE Jadarian Price (left), with 4 touchdowns, teamed with fellow running back Jeremiyah Love (right) to total 6 touchdowns against Purdue. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS