Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price never started a college game and never had more than 15 touches in a game. Yet, there’s a strong chance he’ll be the second running back taken in the 2026 NFL Draft.
All the spotlight is on Jeremiyah Love, who could go as high as third overall, but Price is an exceptional back, choosing to stay at a time when most talented backups would find another home through the transfer portal.
“Not many people can do what both of us did, both in the success we had on the field but also being able to handle it mentally and emotionally off the field,” Price, who rushed for 1,692 yards and 21 touchdowns in three years, told me. “I had less opportunities, but even [Love] had much less alternatives. The one factor we will management is the best way we strategy the sport day-after-day, and the previous two seasons, we did wonderful collectively.”
Notre Dame has an opportunity to have the primary literal 1-2 punch at working again in any draft within the Tremendous Bowl period, the place the highest two backs off the board are from the identical college. Not solely did two of FOX Sports activities’ three ultimate NFL mock drafts have Worth being the second working again taken, however in addition they have the Notre Dame standout going to the Seattle Seahawks with the No. 32 general decide.
If that occurs, Worth would formally be thought of a first-round expertise, making him a uncommon first-round decide who spent his school profession as a backup. Worth, who’s 5-foot-11 and 203 kilos, stated NFL groups have requested him loads why he did not switch and selected to remain at Notre Dame reasonably than go away for a college the place he might get twice as many carries as a featured again.
“I am tremendous grateful I did it, as a result of now I am standing as probably the No. 2 again off the board,” Worth stated. “That exhibits you ways trusting your intestine, trusting God’s plan can actually save your future. I made it a problem to myself to remain at Notre Dame and end my diploma [in sociology], end my fourth 12 months with the fellows I’ve executed it with who’ve made me higher. I really imagine in dedication and love this place.”
PALO ALTO, CA – NOVEMBER 29: Jadarian Worth #24 of the Notre Dame Combating Irish stiff arms Matt Rose #35 of the Stanford Cardinal throughout a recreation on November 29, 2025 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, CA. (Photograph by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)
Thrice, a college has had two of the highest three backs drafted. Auburn had Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams as the primary and third working backs chosen within the 2005 draft, when each gamers went within the top-five (Texas’ Cedric Benson was sandwiched between them). Arkansas had Darren McFadden and Felix Jones go as the primary and third working backs chosen within the 2008 draft, with Oregon’s Jonathan Stewart going between them. Alabama had Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake because the second and third working backs taken within the 2016 draft,
The thought of two working backs from the identical college making a splash as rookies is not something new, although. Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson had been each drafted early out of Ohio State within the second spherical final 12 months because the third and fourth backs taken. They each completed within the high three in dashing yards amongst rookies, trailing solely Ashton Jeanty of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The shared backfield is one thing you see within the NFL — see the Lions lately with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery — and that plan got here from working backs coach Deland McCullough, who coached Worth and Love from 2022-24 and has labored in the identical position with the NFL’s Chiefs and Raiders.
“I’ve sat in these rooms within the NFL, and I’ve by no means heard a GM or scout say ‘God, I want that man had 200 extra carries,'” McCullough, now working backs coach at Oklahoma, advised me. “However I’ve heard them say, ‘I want this man did not have as many as he did.’ Should you can present extra with much less, that was invaluable.”
So Worth, who missed his freshman 12 months recovering from a torn Achilles tendon in 2022, had simply 280 carries in school. Most prospects are nearer to 500, and Penn State’s Kaytron Allen, one other high draft prospect, has 769. It is just like the outdated Indiana Jones line — “It isn’t the years, honey, it is the mileage” — that may very well be a plus for Worth within the NFL.
“That was by design. It was very deliberate,” McCullough stated. “It was for the event of the complete room. It was about figuring out issues JD might actually do nicely when you continued to work on the opposite issues. Within the NFL, it wasn’t a scenario the place you wanted to see a man do go safety 100 occasions. All you must know is he can do it. You needn’t see him run with energy 95 occasions. It isn’t that in any respect. JD was a heck of a complementary participant. He embraced the position he had.”
An added ability Worth brings to the NFL is success on kickoff returns, having taken three for touchdowns whereas at Notre Dame. School soccer nonetheless has the normal return mannequin, however he stated his capacity to make folks miss will translate to the brand new NFL kickoff format.
“It is the identical mindset: deal with it identical to working again: you have to make any person miss,” he stated. “Should you have a look at all of my touchdowns, there wasn’t one the place I used to be untouched. Within the NFL, it is actually only one stage, so should you can hit a seam and make one man miss, it is to the home.”
One facet of Worth’s recreation he did not get to indicate a lot at Notre Dame was catching passes out of the backfield, with simply 15 catches for 162 yards and three scores in his three seasons. He made {that a} precedence this spring, working with trainers on his arms, figuring out an all-around again within the NFL will wish to be concerned within the receiving facet of the offense as nicely.
“That is been the primary focus these previous two months, whether or not it was mix or professional day, displaying groups my information of the go recreation and my capacity and confidence to catch the ball,” Worth stated.
Love completed third in Heisman Trophy voting and may very well be a top-five decide Thursday night time, however on the mix, he stated that Worth has simply as a lot potential to thrive within the NFL, even perhaps in a bigger position than he had in school.
“JD has the chance and the potential to be probably the greatest working backs within the league,” Love advised reporters in Indianapolis. “So long as he goes into it with a humble thoughts and only a starvation to work and simply compete. You understand, JD, sky’s the restrict for JD. He’ll do nice issues within the league and he’ll play for a very long time.”
JaJuan Seider, who took over for McCullough and coached the Notre Dame working backs this previous season, stated Worth’s eagerness to co-exist with Love and put the workforce first is one thing NFL groups additionally wish to see.
“They’re their greatest cheerleaders — they each needed the opposite to achieve success,” Seider advised me. “They knew there can be some sacrifices with that. They’re very unselfish, at all times concerning the workforce and making one another higher. JD performs like a starter. Regardless that he wasn’t on the market for the primary carry, if you see how briskly he begins up, his first carry in a recreation is a landing. He can flip that change when he will get on the soccer subject.”
Worth is prone to be a second-round decide Friday, and it ought to come all the way down to him and Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr. for which again goes second after Love.
Final 12 months’s Notre Dame-Syracuse recreation was an illustration of the Combating Irish’s dominant 1-2 punch at working again. They had been up 21-0 earlier than the offense had touched the ball, after which Love had a 45-yard landing on his first contact, then Worth had a 58-yard rating on the subsequent drive, placing up 35-0 with 4 minutes nonetheless left within the first quarter.
That is why those that’ve coached Worth are assured he could make an affect on the subsequent stage, even when he is by no means needed to carry the burden of being a No. 1 working again.
“He is proven it: I can are available in and break off a 50-yard run. I can are available in and common, shoot, there was some extent in 2024 he averaged virtually 6 yards after contact,'” McCullough stated. “C’mon, man. You’re taking these and bottle it up, NFL groups are drooling over that. He does not want 20 touches. This man can get 11 touches and break a recreation open.”
