While the NCAA Tournament comes to a close in basketball, former NCAA football players are getting ready to hear their name get selected in the 2026 NFL Draft.
One of those players is Jeremiyah Love - a standout running back from Notre Dame.
Love is a surefire selection to be picked in the first round - in fact, he may be the highest picked running back since Saquon Barkley went No. 2 overall in 2018.
There's good reason for Love to be selected early - he ran a 4.36 40-yard dash, always makes at least one defender miss, and has the power and agility combo that makes certain running backs special. Oh, he's also a phenomenal pass catcher coming out of the backfield.
Ashton Jeanty went sixth to the Las Vegas Raiders last year, and there's certainly a good chance that Love is selected before then.
The Arizona Cardinals (picking No. 3), Tennessee Titans (No. 4), New York Giants (No. 5), Washington Commanders (No. 7), New Orleans Saints (No. 8), and Kansas City Chiefs (No. 9) have all been mocked to pick Love by various sites.
With Love being expected to be selected so early, a question arises: Will there be another running back to be selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? bet365 has the odds on the answer to that question.
How many running backs will be picked in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft?
Over 1.5 | +550 |
Under 1.5 | -900 |
Jeanty and Omarion Hampton were both selected in the first round of last year's draft, however it'll be a slight surprise if two running backs were picked in this year's first round.
The leading candidate to be the second one selected is Love's college teammate - Jadarian Price. He runs smoothly and sets up difficult tackling angles for the defense before using his speed to turn corners and outrun those defenders.
Price finished with 674 yards and 13 total touchdowns last year, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. However, the Irish rarely felt comfortable throwing the ball to him as he finished his three-year career with just 15 receptions.
However, his traits may not be elite enough to warrant being selected with a first round pick. If any team were to select Price, it would most likely be the Super Bowl winning Seattle Seahawks, who lost Kenneth Walker III in free agency and Zach Charbonnet to a late-season torn ACL, at pick No. 32
Other running back candidates to be picked in the first round include Nebraska's Emmett Johnson, Washington's Jonah Coleman, and Arkansas' Mike Washington Jr.
