Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love wins 2025 Doak Walker Award

Notre Dame never had a Doak Walker Award winner. Until now.

Jeremiyah Love won it Friday night.

The award’s purpose is plain and simple; it’s “presented to the nation’s premier running back.” And Love is just that. The definition of premier is “first in importance, order or position; leading” There is no other running back in college football who was more important or led more of a charge than Love.

In what was most likely his final season at Notre Dame before he could be a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Love ran 199 times for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also caught 27 passes for 280 yards and 3 touchdowns.

“I love Notre Dame so much,” Love said. “Just thinking about it potentially being my last time having a gold helmet on, I mean, it’s sad. I’m going to miss the times this season I got to put the helmet on and go out there and play with my brothers. So, definitely a sad feeling. But I’m going to remember it. Remember the good things. And just keep it moving. I got to keep it moving and go and get prepared for the next opportunity.”

Love’s 21 total touchdowns broke a longstanding Notre Dame single-season record set by Jerome Bettis in 1991; the Bus scored 20 touchdowns that year. The year prior, 1990, was the first time the Doak Walker Award was doled out. The Irish have had several outstanding tailbacks since then, from Bettis to Autry Denson, Julius Jones, Darius Walker, Josh Adams, Kyren Williams and Audric Estimé. None of them were deemed the best running back in any given season, though.

Love earned and claimed that high honor in 2025.

“You’ve made Notre Dame proud, and best of luck in all that you do,” Bettis said in a video tribute during Friday’s awards show on ESPN.

Love’s rushing yards total is actually the fewest for a Doak Walker Award winner since the inaugural recipient, Washington’s Greg Lewis. He had 1,279. It’s more about how Love accumulated his 1,372 that set him a part from his counterparts, of which Ole Miss’ Kewan Lacy and Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy were the two other Doak Walker finalists.

Love shared Notre Dame backfield playing time with the 2026 NFL Draft’s No. 2 running back prospect, according to many draft analysts, Jadarian Price. Price had 113 carries for 674 yards and 11 touchdowns. Imagine if Love got a few more touches from Price’s allotment. His numbers would have inflated.

That’s the thing, though; there is a certain charm in Love’s efficiency. Of the Doak Walker finalists, Love’s 6.89 yards per carry ranked No. 1. He also had the most yards from scrimmage among them at 137.7, and he got there on 21 fewer touches than Hardy, who averaged 131.8 scrimmage yards per game, and 57 fewer touches than Lacy, who averaged 119.4 scrimmage yards per game.

Pretty much any way you sliced it, Love truly was the best running back in college football this season. He was one of the best players in college football, period, as evidenced by his trip to New York City as a Heisman Trophy finalist. He’s one of four players who are currently there for Saturday night’s ceremony, and he’s the only running back among them.

Case closed.

“I think it brings a lot of confidence to everybody in our program that you know when you got that guy on the field and you can give him the ball, there’s multiple different ways he can take the ball to the end zone,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. “I’m just so proud of him, the football player he’s developed into but more importantly the man he’s become. Now I got to convince him to come back for one more year.”

He might not win the Heisman, and he probably won’t go back for that one more year, but he sure did deserve the Doak Walker in 2025. And now he’s in a class of his own as the only player from Notre Dame to ever take it home.

“It’s a great honor, being the first to do it,” Love said. “I feel like there’s a lot of weight that comes with that. I’m setting the standard for running backs here at Notre Dame. And I’m just hoping the next guys that come after me can set a higher standard than I did.”