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SOUTH BEND — Surgery was never an option for the right knee injury Jeremiyah Love suffered against USC in the regular-season finale for Notre Dame football.
So said Rob Hunt, longtime head athletic trainer for Notre Dame football, in rare public comments on Thursday at Notre Dame Stadium.
But that doesn’t make what Love accomplished any less remarkable as Notre Dame’s leading rusher made it to the post for all four College Football Playoff games.
“It was never considered surgical,” Hunt said. “It was an injury that certainly the timing of it was frustrating. I think had he not had the little pick at it during the Georgia game (in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal), it probably would have been less … emotion attached to it. We had some time there as well that was in our favor.”
A 20-day period between the USC win and the first-round playoff game against Indiana “served us really well,” Hunt said.
After a 10-day quiet period, Love had a five-day ramp-up, followed by five days of preparation. On his second carry against the Hoosiers, Love went 98 yards for a touchdown, flu-like symptoms and all.
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In consultation with sports performance director John Wagle, football performance director Loren Landow and Hunt and his staff, a plan was hatched that enabled Love to keep moving forward while hurdling opponents.
In four postseason games, Love rushed 29 times for 176 yards and two scores, the other coming on an epic 2-yard blast through half the Penn State defense in the Orange Bowl CFP semifinal.
Take out the 98-yard statement run, and Love averaged just 2.8 yards per carry in the four playoff games. That was well below the rising junior’s season-long 6.9-yard average per carry.
“It was just how do we get him enough work?” Hunt said….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/notre-dame-football-kept-jeremiyah-191801894.html
Author : South Bend Tribune
Publish date : 2025-03-07 19:18:00
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