Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SUMMER 2026 29 with our receivers. Any time you can get that from the backs, it's just that next position that allows you to, like I said, get those explosives." That's why the Cardinals fell in love with Love on the field. But their meet- ings with him throughout the pre-draft process cemented their belief. "He walks into the room, and he has this really good mix of confidence but humility," LaFleur said. "I really appre- ciate him as a person even more than the player. And the player's pretty special." PRICE TO SEATTLE MADE TOO MUCH SENSE NOT TO HAPPEN There was a point, as Seattle Sea- hawks general manager John Schneider anxiously waited to draft Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price, that he thought he made it too obvious. Price was heavily connected to Seattle throughout the pre-draft process, both in mock drafts and in reality. A repre- sentative from the defending Super Bowl champions met extensively with Irish running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider during Notre Dame's pro day, and Price met multiple times with Seahawks run- ning backs coach Thomas Hammock (yes, the same Thomas Hammock who coached NIU to an upset in South Bend). With the 32nd and final pick of the first round, Plan A for the Seahawks was trading back a few spots — they had only four picks at the time and wanted more — and selecting Price early in the sec- ond round. Plan B was taking him right then and there. Schneider was unable to trade back, in large part due to a flurry of trades at Nos. 28, 30 and 31. When he saw that, Schneider was concerned that someone would move ahead of the Seahawks for Price. No one did. Price and Seattle made too much sense not to happen, and no one saw that more than the Seahawks themselves. "He kinda stood alone," Schneider said. "Great player. The person's out- standing, the competitor. I mean, he's a Seahawk." W h e n P r i ce b e ca m e a Seahawk, he and Jer- emiyah Love became the first running back tandem from the same school to be the first two backs off the board in the common draft era. Notre Dame is also the first school to produce two first-round running backs in the same year since Arkansas (Darren McFadden and Felix Jones) in 2008. On the field, Price immediately fills the need created by the departure of Su- per Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III, who left in free agency. Price fits the Walker role like a glove, working in tandem with incumbent running back Zach Charbonnet when he returns from a late-season torn ACL. He's a one-cut back with great vision who should thrive in Seattle's scheme. "The stretch game, outside zone, that's my bread and butter," Price said. "I think there's nothing better than a smooth cut-back, when the linemen do their job and all you gotta do is make a second-level guy miss. I think that's the best feeling right there." In addition to the on-field fit, the Sea- hawks' brain trust surmised that Price would enhance the culture that helped them climb back to the mountaintop. Part of that, head coach Mike Macdonald and Schneider explained, was his will- ingness to stay at Notre Dame. Price opted to stick it out in South Bend, rather than transfer to any of the 130-something FBS schools where he would have been the No. 1 running back. That's not explicitly something the Se- ahawks evaluated, but it strengthened what they thought of him as a person and a competitor. "It's a great, cool story, something you get excited about," Macdonald said. "You love talking to [him], and you can envision him sticking it out here. You can feel him in the building and feel like he's one of us." SATURDAY SURPRISE Day 2 of the 2026 draft went about as expected, from a Fighting Irish per- spective. Wide receiver Malachi Fields became Notre Dame's highest drafted trans- fer addition, a full 112 spots ahead of Alohi Gilman in 2020. The New York Giants selected the Virginia transfer in the third round (74th overall), and he'll serve as a big-bodied complement to budding star Malik Nabers, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 draft. Later in the third round, the New England Patriots drafted tight end Eli Raridon with the 95th overall pick. This was higher than most expected to hear Raridon's name called, but the tight end class as a whole was over-drafted rela- tive to expectations. Many NFL offenses are shifting back toward heavy 12 and 13 personnel usage, and Raridon's size and speed can present a matchup problem in heavy packages. Day 3 began with interior offensive lineman Billy Schrauth heading to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was playing pickup basketball when he got the call, and his off-color reaction led Bucs gen- eral manager Jason Licht to remark, "He sounds like one of us." Schrauth, if he stays healthy, could push for a starting job in the near future in Tampa. But the biggest surprise of the week- end was the selection of defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio, who had virtually no buzz leading up to the draft. Rubio missed 15 games due to injury from 2023-25, but he was Notre Dame's best run stuffer when healthy. The Pittsburgh Steelers thought so too, and they drafted him in the sixth round. "The size, the length, it's really just intriguing," Steelers defensive coor- dinator Patrick Graham said. "Really fits what we're trying to do. Does a good job of defeating blocks. Hard to single block. And the way he plays, he plays football the right way." ✦ FIGHTING IRISH HEADED TO THE NFL Player, Pos. Pick (Round) Team Jeremiyah Love, RB No. 3 (1st) Arizona Cardinals Jadarian Price, RB No. 32 (1st) Seattle Seahawks Malachi Fields, WR No. 74 (3rd) New York Giants Eli Raridon, TE No. 95 (3rd) New England Patriots Billy Schrauth, IOL No. 160 (5th) Tampa Bay Buccaneers Gabriel Rubio, DT No. 210 (6th) Pittsburgh Steelers UNDRAFTED FREE AGENTS Player, Pos. Team Aamil Wagner, OT Tennessee Titans Will Pauling, WR San Francisco 49ers DeVonta Smith, DB Carolina Panthers Jordan Botelho, EDGE Minnesota Vikings Jalen Stroman, S San Francisco 49ers