Bryce Love

Last updated

Bryce Love
Bryce Love in CrashCourse Football (cropped).png
Love in 2018
No. 23
Position: Running back
Personal information
Born: (1997-07-08) July 8, 1997 (age 26) [1]
Wake Forest, North Carolina, U.S.
Height:5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight:205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school: Wake Forest
(Wake Forest, North Carolina)
College: Stanford (2015–2018)
NFL Draft: 2019  / Round: 4 / Pick: 112
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

Jonathan Bryce Love (born July 8, 1997) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, although he never played in a game with them due to a lingering issue from a knee injury he suffered at Stanford. In his youth, he was also a sprinter specializing in the 200 meters and 400 meters, earning USA Track & Field Youth Athlete of the Year honors in 2009. [2] [3]

Contents

Early years

A native of Wake Forest, North Carolina, Love attended Wake Forest-Rolesville High School. In addition to track, he competed in football and drew comparisons to Keith Marshall. [4] At the combine of the 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, Love ran an electronically timed 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash. [5]

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 Bryce Love.png
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.

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. [8] He won the Lombardi Award for 2017. [9] 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. [10]

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 injury, but managed to finish the year with 739 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. [11] At the end of the season, he earned Pac-12 honorable mention. Love graduated from Stanford with a degree in human biology in 2019. [12]

Statistics

SeasonGPRushingReceiving
AttYdsAvgTDRecYdsAvgTD
2015 14292257.821525016.71
2016 121117837.1388310.41
2017 132632,1188.1196335.50
2018 101667394.5620995.00
Career495693,8656.830494659.52

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeightArm lengthHand span Bench press
5 ft 8+78 in
(1.75 m)
200 lb
(91 kg)
29+38 in
(0.75 m)
9+18 in
(0.23 m)
18 reps
All values from NFL Combine [13] [14]

Prior to the draft, Love suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his final college game which led to a concern among teams. He ultimately was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round, 112th overall, of the 2019 NFL Draft. [15] He signed his rookie contract with the team on May 9, 2019. [16] 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. [17] He was designated to return from IR in November and practiced with the team, [18] but was not elevated to the active roster in time and remained on IR. [19] Love was eventually waived by the team on April 19, 2021, having never played in a game with them. [20]

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References

  1. "Bryce LOVE | Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Love named USATF Youth Athlete of the Year". USATF.com. November 23, 2009.
  3. FitzGerald, Tom (October 5, 2017). "Stanford's Bryce Love". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  4. Spiewak, Stephen (September 11, 2012). "Bryce Love: The next Keith Marshall?". maxpreps.com. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  5. Morris, Ron (September 20, 2017). "Christian McCaffrey who? A former Wake Forest football star redefines the word speed" . Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  6. Bryce Love – Football Recruiting – Player Profiles – ESPN
  7. "Bryce Love, 2015 All Purpose Back - Rivals.com". N.rivals.com. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  8. Pedersen, Brian. "Stanford RB Bryce Love wins Doak Walker Award". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  9. "Love wins Lombardi as nation's best player". ESPN.com. January 28, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  10. "2017 Heisman Trophy Voting". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  11. "30 in 30: Stanford RB Bryce Love". News 4 Buffalo. April 1, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  12. Roling, Chris (June 18, 2019). "Redskins' Bryce Love graduates from Stanford". Redskins Wire. USA Today. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  13. "Jonathan Love Combine Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  14. "2019 Draft Scout Bryce Love, Stanford NFL Draft Scout College Football Profile". draftscout.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  15. Stackpole, Kyle (April 27, 2019). "Redskins Select Running Back Bryce Love". Redskins.com. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  16. Stackpole, Kyle (May 9, 2019). "Redskins Sign Eight Members of 2019 Draft Class". Redskins.com. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  17. Hailey, Peter. "Washington places Bryce Love on IR, but his injury is not a season-ending one". Yahoo Sports. [NBC Sports Washington] Peter Hailey NBC Sports Washington. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  18. "Football Team's Bryce Love: Returning to practice". CBSSports.com. November 11, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  19. Cadeux, Ethan. "Report: Bryce Love to remain on IR, ending his 2020 season". RSN. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  20. Fortier, Sam. "Washington waives running back Bryce Love after two injury-filled seasons". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
Awards
Preceded by USA Track & Field Youth Athlete of the Year
2009
Succeeded by