Bryce Love
{{Short description|American football player (born 1997)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name = Bryce Love
| image = Bryce Love in CrashCourse Football (cropped).png
| caption = Love in 2018
| number = 23
| position = Running back
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1997|7|8|mf=y}}{{cite web |title=Bryce LOVE {{!}} Profile |url=https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/bryce-love-14487408 |website=World Athletics |access-date=June 27, 2021}}
| birth_place = Wake Forest, North Carolina, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 9
| weight_lb = 205
| high_school = Wake Forest
| college = Stanford (2015–2018)
| draftyear = 2019
| draftround = 4
| draftpick = 112
| pastteams =
- Washington Redskins / Football Team ({{NFL Year|2019}}–{{NFL Year|2020}})
| status =
| highlights =
- Lombardi Award (2017)
- Doak Walker Award (2017)
- Jim Brown Trophy (2017)
- Unanimous All-American (2017)
- Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year (2017)
- First-team All-Pac-12 (2017)
}}
Jonathan Bryce Love (born July 8, 1997) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal and was selected 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.{{cite news | last =FitzGerald | first =Tom | title =Stanford's Bryce Love | newspaper =San Francisco Chronicle | date =October 5, 2017 | url =http://www.sfchronicle.com/collegesports/article/Stanford-s-Bryce-Love-is-hooked-on-football-12256891.php | access-date =October 7, 2017 }}
Early life
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.{{cite web|url=http://www.maxpreps.com/news/nvNKtLATa0SzNf0FBwHV_A/bryce-love--the-next-keith-marshall.htm|title=Bryce Love: The next Keith Marshall?|author=Spiewak, Stephen|date=September 11, 2012|access-date=May 1, 2018|website=maxpreps.com}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Ron |date=September 20, 2017 |title=Christian McCaffrey who? A former Wake Forest football star redefines the word speed |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article174314291.html |access-date=August 13, 2018 |website=NewsObserver.com}}
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.{{cite web |title=Love named USATF Youth Athlete of the Year |work=USATF.com |date=November 23, 2009 |url=http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?duid=USATF_2009_11_23_13_46_54 }} 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|date=April 2019}} 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.[http://www.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/165161/bryce-love Bryce Love – Football Recruiting – Player Profiles – ESPN] He committed to Stanford over offers from Clemson, East Carolina, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin, among others.{{Cite web |title=Bryce Love, 2015 All Purpose Back, Stanford |url=https://rivals.com/content/athletes/bryce-love-3983?view=pv |access-date=July 16, 2024 |website=Rivals.com |language=en-US}}
College career
=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.{{Cite web |title=Bryce Love 2015 Game Log |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/bryce-love-1/gamelog/2015 |access-date=July 16, 2024 |website=Sports Reference |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Bryce Love 2016 Game Log |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/bryce-love-1/gamelog/2016 |access-date=July 16, 2024 |website=Sports Reference |language=en}}
=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.{{Cite web |date=December 8, 2017 |title=Stanford's Love wins Doak Walker Award as top running back |url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/sports/2017/12/07/stanfords-love-wins-doak-walker-award-as-top-running-back/ |access-date=July 16, 2024 |website=Palo Alto Online}} He won the Lombardi Award for 2017.{{Cite web |date=January 28, 2018 |title=Love wins Lombardi as nation's best player |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/22243090 |access-date=July 16, 2024 |website=ESPN.com|agency=Associated Press}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-2017.html |title=2017 Heisman Trophy Voting |website=Sports Reference |language=en |access-date=August 13, 2019}}
=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.{{cite web | last=Filipowski | first=Nick | title=30 in 30: Stanford RB Bryce Love | website=News 4 Buffalo | date=April 1, 2019 | url=https://www.wivb.com/sports/30-in-30-stanford-rb-bryce-love/ | access-date=July 16, 2024}} At the end of the season, he earned Pac-12 honorable mention. Love graduated from Stanford with a degree in human biology in 2019.{{cite web |last1=Roling |first1=Chris |title=Redskins' Bryce Love graduates from Stanford |url=https://redskinswire.usatoday.com/2019/06/17/redskins-bryce-love-graduates-stanford/ |website=Redskins Wire |date=June 18, 2019 |publisher=USA Today |access-date=June 18, 2019}}
=Statistics=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | |||||||||
| rowspan="2"| Season
! rowspan="2"| GP ! colspan="4"| Rushing ! colspan="4"| Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2015
| 14 || 29 || 225 || 7.8 || 2 || 15 || 250 || 16.7 || 1 | |||||||||
| 2016
| 12 || 111 || 783 || 7.1 || 3 || 8 || 83 || 10.4 || 1 | |||||||||
| 2017
| 13 || 263 || 2,118 || 8.1 || 19 || 6 || 33 || 5.5 || 0 | |||||||||
| 2018
| 10 || 166 || 739 || 4.5 || 6 || 20 || 99 || 5.0 || 0 | |||||||||
| [https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/bryce-love-1.html Career] | 49 | 569 | 3,865 | 6.8 | 30 | 49 | 465 | 9.5 | 2 |
Professional career
{{NFL predraft
| height ft = 5
| height in = 8 7/8
| weight = 200
| dash =
| ten split =
| twenty split =
| shuttle =
| cone drill =
| vertical =
| broad ft =
| broad in =
| bench = 18
| arm span = 29 3/8
| hand span = 9 1/8
| wonderlic =
| note = All values from NFL Combine{{cite web|title=Jonathan Love Combine Profile|url=https://www.nfl.com/prospects/bryce-love?id=32194c4f-5604-4766-ac8b-19be320b56b7|website=NFL.com|access-date=November 8, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://draftscout.com/dsprofile.php?PlayerId=1002716&DraftYear=2019 |title=2019 Draft Scout Bryce Love, Stanford NFL Draft Scout College Football Profile |website=draftscout.com |access-date=August 28, 2022}}
}}
Prior to the draft, Love suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his final college game which led to a concern among teams.{{cite web | last=Bonesteel | first=Matt | title=Stanford’s Bryce Love tore his ACL on his last play of his last college game | website=Washington Post | date=January 11, 2019 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/01/11/stanfords-bryce-love-tore-his-acl-his-last-play-his-last-college-game/ | access-date=July 16, 2024}} He ultimately was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round, 112th overall, of the 2019 NFL draft.{{cite web|work=Redskins.com|url=https://www.redskins.com/news/redskins-select-stanford-running-back-bryce-love-2019-nfl-draft|date=April 27, 2019|title=Redskins Select Running Back Bryce Love|first=Kyle|last=Stackpole|access-date=May 11, 2019}} He signed his rookie contract with the team on May 9, 2019.{{cite web|work=Redskins.com|url=https://www.redskins.com/news/redskins-sign-eight-members--2019-draft-class|date=May 9, 2019|title=Redskins Sign Eight Members of 2019 Draft Class|first=Kyle |last=Stackpole|access-date=May 9, 2019}} 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.{{cite web | last=Hailey | first=Peter | title=Washington Places Bryce Love on IR, But His Injury Is Not a Season-Ending One | website=NBC4 Washington | date=October 2, 2020 | url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/nbcsports/washington-places-bryce-love-on-ir-but-his-injury-is-not-a-season-ending-one/2434085/ | access-date=July 16, 2024}} He was designated to return from IR in November and practiced with the team,{{cite news |title=Football Team's Bryce Love: Returning to practice |url=https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/football-teams-bryce-love-returning-to-practice/ |website=CBSSports.com |date=November 11, 2020 |access-date=January 10, 2021}} but was not elevated to the active roster in time and remained on IR.{{cite web | last=Cadeaux | first=Ethan | title=Report: Washington RB Bryce Love to Remain on IR, Ending His 2020 Season | website=NBC4 Washington | date=December 1, 2020 | url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/nbcsports/report-washington-rb-bryce-love-to-remain-on-ir-ending-his-2020-season/2493395/?amp | access-date=July 16, 2024}} Love was eventually waived by the team on April 19, 2021, having never played in a game with them.{{cite web | last=Fortier | first=Sam | title=Washington waives running back Bryce Love after two injury-filled seasons | website=Washington Post | date=April 19, 2021 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/04/19/bryce-love-waived-washington-football/ | access-date=July 16, 2024}}
After football
Love remained in the Washington area and is an angel investor in technology. He has also expressed interest in going to medical school to be a pediatrician.{{cite web | last=Ye | first=Erin | title=From Doak Walker to venture capital: Bryce Love ’19 embarks on a new chapter | website=The Stanford Daily | date=2024-05-14 | url=https://stanforddaily.com/2024/05/14/from-doak-walker-to-venture-capital-bryce-love-19-embarks-on-a-new-chapter/ | access-date=2024-10-08}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{Twitter}}
- {{World Athletics}}
- [https://gostanford.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=14001 Stanford Cardinal bio]
{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{S-bef|before=Jordan Hasay}}
{{S-ttl|title=USA Track & Field Youth Athlete of the Year |years=2009 }}
{{s-aft|after=Trevor Barron }}
{{s-end}}
{{Doak Walker Award}}
{{Lombardi Award}}
{{Pac-12 Player of the Year}}
{{2017 NCAA Division I FBS College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{Redskins2019DraftPicks}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Bryce}}
Category:All-American college football players
Category:American football running backs
Category:American male sprinters
Category:People from Wake Forest, North Carolina
Category:Players of American football from North Carolina
Category:Stanford Cardinal football players
Category:Track and field athletes from North Carolina
Category:Washington Redskins players