Breaking News: NFL Indianapolis colts finally sign Julian Love for $55 million from Seattle Seahawks… Read More…
RENTON — On Nov. 12, 2016, a freshman collapsed on an ill-advised pass to earn his first career interception. The play provided an exclamation point in Notre Dame’s 44-6 victory over Army in San Antonio, a drama-free drubbing in the Alamodome.
Nearly eight years later, it’s not the play that sticks with me.
It’s the interviews afterward.
As a second-year reporter for the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, I stood in the bowels of the Alamodome, while Irish coach Brian Kelly patted his rookie revelation on the back, and the buoyant DB beamed.
“That’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was 10 years old,” the freshman in question said. “I was just smiling the whole time [after the interception]. I couldn’t stop. I realized I have to stop smiling. I looked like a young kid.”
Julian Love looked like a young kid but played like a grown man. At 5 feet 10 and 190 pounds, the former three-star recruit made his first career start at safety against Army, after logging five starts at cornerback. He’d go on to tally 176 tackles, 39 passes defended, five interceptions and two pick-sixes in three transcendent seasons in South Bend, before being selected by the New York Giants in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft.
Following four seasons in New York, Love — a captain with the Giants in 2022 — signed with the Seahawks last spring.
He earned Pro Bowl honors as a part-time starter, producing 123 tackles with 10 passes defended, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery … while apparently earning the faith of Seahawks president of football operations John Schneider.
