Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love talks navigating NIL, deal with Samsung

At age 20, Jeremiyah Love just missed the flip-phone era. In a way, the Notre Dame running back has one now with a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 – and he signed an NIL deal with the company.

Love has joined Team Galaxy through an NIL deal with Samsung. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik is also on board as the company adds to an impressive list of athlete partners including LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson, New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart and Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier. Love has a $1.5 million On3 NIL Valuation.

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

Speaking with On3, Love said Samsung’s values lined up with his own. That’s why he decided to join forces with the company.

“It means a lot,” Love said via Zoom. “I feel like me and Samsung, just in general, have the same mindset. Samsung, they’re themselves no matter what. They’re not trying to be like anybody else. They’re very unique. Me and myself, I’m myself no matter what’s going on. I’ve always been that way since I’ve been a little kid.

“This partnership means a lot to me because I feel like I’m part of something that’s bigger than myself. The partnership just allows me to, I feel like it’ll help me connect with people that are like me. People that want to just be themselves. It’s also just a very cool brand to partner with. Got lots of great tools that just make life easier in general.”

‘It’s football and school for me’

At $1.5 million, Jeremiyah Love’s On3 NIL Valuation ranks 29th in the college football NIL rankings. He also sits at No. 49 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and de facto NIL ranking of the Top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation. Repped by Athletes First, Love has also signed deals with New Balance and Celsius this year.

While starring on the field, Love admitted he’s taking a calculated approach to NIL. He defers to his representation and chooses to keep his focus on two key areas: football and school.

“When it comes to NIL, most of the time, I don’t really take part in anything,” Love said. “I have a very great team of people that handle all that stuff for me. They help me to keep my life very simple. It’s football and school for me. There comes a time where a deal arises, they’ll inform me and ask me, ‘Do you want to do this deal?’ or ‘Are you interested in doing this?’ I say yes or no. They do all the work and whatever they’ve got to do to make that deal come to life.

“I try to keep it very simple with just football and school primarily because I don’t want to get in the wrong aspects. What got me here is football. I plan on just staying in football until I have to do something in business. Very great team around me to handle that stuff for me.”

Jeremiyah Love: ‘I’m proud to be part of this team’

Jeremiyah Love is in the midst of an impressive junior season at Notre Dame and helped lead the Fighting Irish to a resounding win at Arkansas last week. Through four games, he has 341 rushing yards and five touchdowns along with 149 receiving yards and three scores in the air.

He’s a unique player in the Notre Dame offense, lining up in both the backfield and out wide as a receiver. Love also views his partnership with Samsung as a “unique” one, as well.

“Samsung is different,” Love said. “I think that they’re taking a very unique approach when it comes to athletes and trying to get into that realm of things. I recently just had a little piece released on myself in general, about just being yourself and not straying away from things as far as who you are. And I feel like Samsung has taken that approach in this campaign. They’re going to be themselves. They’re not going to stray away from the things that they value.

“I’m just proud to be part of this team. I’m happy and looking forward to wherever this takes us in the future. Hopefully, it can just lead to bigger things and we can inspire lots of people to be themselves and be different, be unique. Don’t be like everybody else. Don’t be a follower.”

And while he hasn’t had the pleasure of flipping his phone closed to end a call, Love raved about his Fold7. It provides both portability and durability.

“Having the Fold7 and being able to make it into a bigger screen has helped me a lot,” he said. “I’m a very, very big lover of anime and just watching things in general. I love to read comics, as well. What way to do that than on a bigger screen? Something that’s just very portable. It folds, I can fit it in my pocket and whenever I’m ready to watch anime, fold it. Get to watching, get to reading or whatever it may be. Doing some Jeremonstar stuff, doing some sketches or whatever it may be. It just makes it very easy.”