A track athlete from an early age, Love attended the 2009 USA Track & Field (USATF) National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, setting national record times of 11.64 in the 100m, 23.37 in the 200m and 50.75 in the 400m dash. It was the first time a boy from the midget age group (11–12 years old) has set three national records in one year. Love was named USATF Youth Athlete of the Year 2009.[2] Soon after, Love set new records in the 13–14 yrs group at a meet in Hoschton, Georgia. He ran 10.73 in the 100 and 21.83 in the 200 on consecutive days.[citation needed] As a football player, he was rated as a 4-star recruit by ESPN and the No. 18 running back prospect of the class of 2015.[6] He committed to Stanford over offers from Clemson, East Carolina, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin, among others.[7]
College career
Love with the Stanford Cardinal in 2018
2015–2016
In the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Love backed up Christian McCaffrey, a first-round selection in the 2017 NFL draft. Love accumulated 1,009 rushing yards in these two seasons.[8][9]
2017
Love had a break-out season in 2017 with 2,118 rushing yards. Love was second in the nation in rushing yards and in rushing yards per game. Love reached the 1,000-yard rushing mark in just the fifth game of the season. He had back-to-back games with over 250 rushing yards, making him only the second Pac-12 Conference player to accomplish this (along with Reggie Bush). He ran for a school-record 301 yards in a game. Love ran for at least 100 yards in twelve of his thirteen games, leading all running backs in the nation.
Love won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back.[10] He won the Lombardi Award for 2017.[11] He was a unanimous first-team All-American. The Pac-12 named Love its Offensive Player of the Year. Love also was named to the All-Pac-12 First-team. Like McCaffrey in 2015, Love was the runner-up for the 2017 Heisman Trophy.[12]
2018
In his senior season, Love was one of the team captains. He was put on several preseason All-American lists as well as preseason award watch lists. He missed some time due to an ACL injury, but managed to finish the year with 739 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.[13] At the end of the season, he earned Pac-12 honorable mention. Love graduated from Stanford with a degree in human biology in 2019.[14]
Prior to the draft, Love suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his final college game which led to a concern among teams.[17] He ultimately was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round, 112th overall, of the 2019 NFL draft.[18] He signed his rookie contract with the team on May 9, 2019.[19] He was placed on the non-football injury list before the start of the season on August 31, 2019. He was active for a few games in 2020 before being placed on injured reserve (IR) on October 2.[20] He was designated to return from IR in November and practiced with the team,[21] but was not elevated to the active roster in time and remained on IR.[22] Love was eventually waived by the team on April 19, 2021, having never played in a game with them.[23]
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