College Football 26 continues to pump out high-end player drops, and few launches have generated more immediate buzz than Jeremiah Love. But hype is one thing-actual on-field production is another. After extensive testing, multiple scheme switches, and several full games that ranged from hilarious frustration to true highlight-reel explosions, the question remains: is Love actually built to be an elite RB1, or is he just a speed-boosted collectible with a marketing halo?

 

Card Profile and Attribute Rundown

 

Before we get into playbooks, blocking logic, make CFB 26 Coins and the roller-coaster run attempts, let's address the raw numbers. Love enters CFB 26 with:

 

 95 Speed

 96 Acceleration

 90 Juke

 90 Carry

 90 Spin

 

On paper, this makes him a premier space-and-burst back. He's built more like a finesse accelerator than a bruiser-and nothing about his animations contradicts that. When he gets daylight, he can truly erase angles.

 

However, the real sticking point for many early testers is ability access. Love has:

 

 Gold Shifty (10 AP)

 Optional Arm Bar / 360, but no premier elite RB perks like Bulldozer tier, Red Zone Freight Train, Short In Back, or Backfield Master levels of control.

 

Is Gold Shifty good? Yes. Is it 10 AP good? That's where the hesitation begins.

 

Blue-Chip Boosts: Nice, But Not Meta-Defining

 

Love also arrives with a team boost:

 

 +4 Strength

 +4 Awareness

 +6 Pass Block

 Applies to RBs and TEs

 

Does this make your tight end slightly firmer in traffic and your third-down back less likely to whiff on a blitz pickup? Sure. Does it meaningfully alter wins at the line or let you reorder your blocking package? Not really.

 

It's a quality-of-life bump, not a meta shift.

 

The 3 Million Coin Question

 

The creator testing this card paid 3 million coins to get him early. That matters, because value is part of viability. At that asking price, a card must be able to:

 

 break structure-heavy fronts (3-4 odd, 4-down nickel)

 punish over-commits

 dominate in space AND in tight run fits

 provide pass-game versatility

 

Love fulfills maybe two of those four consistently.

 

Gameplay Session 1: The Struggle Run

 

The first full gameplay sample paints a brutal picture of what happens when an explosive back meets a brick-wall, meta-tournament front.

 

Defensive Look Faced:

 

3-4 Odd, shifting into 4-Down fronts on run keys.

 

Playbook Used:

 

Kansas State Offense / Pitt Defense

 

From the opening snap, Love was staring at debris. Frontside crash, backside loopers, user pinches, and what might go down as the most confused fullback AI of the year. Multiple runs died before they even formed.

 

No sprint button. No cutback greed. Just run fits meeting brick-wall physics and clogged guard pulls. It wasn't Love's fault-he wasn't getting hat-on-hat blocking long enough to even access his juke and spin ratings.

 

Yet, even in that ugly opener, the first glimpse of value finally arrived: a wheel-angle-style pass motion and Love flashing in space as a checkdown.

 

It took forever to get going, but Love found the end zone through the air. Forced, but functional.

 

Gameplay Session 2: A Complete Transformation

 

The second testing block was the revelation moment.

 

New Offensive Playbook:

 

Alabama

 

This shift changed everything. Why? Because Bama's run menu is one of the few that:

 

1.Generates consistent pulling logic (even if late)

 

2.Uses formation overloads to force run-bubble leverage

 

3.Contains toss crack, duo, angle screen, bunch quad base

 

Right away, Love started breathing.

 

 Duo left

 Toss left behind a left-handed QB

 Quad stack leverage

 

And suddenly:

 

Two carries: 31 yards.

 

Then the toss call, perfectly timed, perfectly leveraged:

 

Touchdown.

 

Clean lane, free acceleration, and no wasted motion. When Love isn't getting swallowed by instant A-gap molasses, he can glide.

 

Pass Game Note: The Angle Screen

 

The angle screen remains one of the deadliest RB touches in CFB 26, and Love executes it beautifully:

 

 smooth catch turn

 immediate field scan

 single-cut explosion

 

Had a juke landed, it would've gone house.

 

At this point, he was finally demonstrating what his 3M price tag implied: open-field terror, stride-based burst, and a prototype college space runner.

 

Gameplay Session 3: 97-Yard Perfection

 

The third live session didn't last long-but it didn't need to.

Pinned at the goal line, with the defense showing a falsely safe shell, Love finally got what top backs require:

 

a sealed edge and a single decision cut

 

You could feel from the moment the handoff hit his chest that he was gone. No sprint cheese. No behind-the-line rock skipping. Just one decisive lane read and six seconds of acceleration poetry.97-yard rushing score.

 

That's the Love everyone paid for.

 

Scheme and Formation Verdict

 

Love is NOT the kind of back you plug into a random spread set and expect auto-yards. He is:

 

 formation-sensitive

 blocking-dependent

 best in compressed wing or overload sets

 lethal on crack toss, quad duo, weak zone, and space screens

 

Kansas State couldn't showcase him. Alabama unlocked him instantly.

 

Who Should Use Him?

 

Jeremiah Love is ideal for:

 

 players who scheme touches, not force touches

 wide-zone / toss / duo playcallers

 creators who love formation-motion mismatch

 players running Bama, USC, Oregon, or Baylor-style wide sets

 

Love is not ideal for:

 

 3-4 odd grinders

 heavy pistol ISO spam

 under-center dive merchants

 players who refuse to audible based on front count

 

Final Verdict: Speed Star, Situational Superstar

 

After three full games and enough emotional swings to qualify as cardio, the assessment lands clearly:

 

Jeremiah Love is electric when featured correctly, but nowhere near worth 3 million coins if you expect instant dominance.

 

He is:

 

 a track-meet space king

 a scheme-fit accelerator

 a highlight engine when blocking aligns

 

But he is not:

 

 a universal meta breaker

 a foundational every-front RB like a Derrick Henry power archetype

 an ability-stacking, AP-efficient endgame card

 

Bottom Line:

 

If you have the playbook variety, motion patience, NCAA 26 Coins and the blocking IQ to unlock him, Love can feel like the fastest player on the field. If you don't, he becomes a 3M coin luxury car stuck in 5PM traffic.

 

Final Rating:

 

8.2 / 10 (Bama Playbook)

6.9 / 10 (Kansas State or basic schemes)

Dec-11-2025 PST