(Photo: Chad Ryan/Fighting Irish Preview)
Jadarian Price didn’t need 20 carries to ruin somebody’s Saturday. A crease in the defense or a kickoff with a little room to work would do just fine. Once No. 24 got loose, everybody knew what could happen next.
That made him dangerous. What he overcame to get there makes his Notre Dame story even better.
Price arrived from Denison, Texas, in 2022 with nearly 5,000 high school rushing yards and plenty of promise. Then, before he could take his first collegiate handoff, a ruptured Achilles tendon wiped out his freshman season. For a running back who could make a living with his speed, that was a tough way to start.
A year later, in Dublin against Navy, Price finally got his chance. His first collegiate carry went 19 yards for a touchdown. All that waiting, all that rehabilitation—and one handoff was all he needed to remind everyone why Notre Dame wanted him in the first place.
Later that season, USC got a much longer look at his speed. Price took a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, stretching Notre Dame’s lead to 18 points. The Trojans had just scored. Price promptly took the good out of it.
Two backs. Plenty of trouble.
Sharing a backfield with Jeremiyah Love meant Price wasn’t going to get every handoff. It also meant defenses didn’t get much of a break when Notre Dame changed running backs. Love could take one the distance, and Price could do the same. Keeping both fresh was a pretty good arrangement for the Irish.
During Notre Dame’s run to the national championship game in the 2024 season, Price rushed for 746 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 6.2 yards per carry. He broke loose for a 47-yard touchdown at Texas A&M, went 70 yards for a score at Purdue and added a 65-yard touchdown against Florida State. Against USC, he rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown. Apparently, playing the Trojans agreed with him.
Price had a knack for finding daylight and getting through it in a hurry. Defenders might have the angle, but that didn’t mean they were going to make the tackle. And in 2025, he gave them even more trouble.
Don’t kick it to that guy
Against Purdue, Price scored four touchdowns—three on the ground and another on a 100-yard kickoff return. Four touchdowns in one game is a good day’s work by anybody’s standards.
Then came USC again. In the third quarter, Price fielded a kickoff and went 100 yards to put Notre Dame back in front. He became the first Irish player to return two kickoffs at least 100 yards for touchdowns in the same season. The Trojans had already seen this movie in 2023. They probably didn’t care much for the sequel.
Those returns brought his career total to three kickoff return touchdowns, tying Tim Brown, Allen Rossum and CJ Sanders for second in Notre Dame history. Only Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, with five, had more. That is quite a group to join.
Price finished 2025 with 15 touchdowns: 11 rushing, two receiving and two on kickoff returns. His 37.5-yard kickoff return average led the nation. He earned first-team All-America recognition from The Sporting News and was a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award and the Jet Award. Sharing the backfield certainly hadn’t kept him from making a name for himself.
The Seattle Seahawks liked what they saw, too. They selected Price with the 32nd overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. From a lost freshman season to a first-round draft pick—that is a comeback worth appreciating.
At Notre Dame, Price made a little room go a long way. He helped the Irish chase a championship, put his name alongside some of the program’s great return men and made USC wish somebody had kicked the ball someplace else.
Jadarian Price is this week’s FIP All-Time Irish Hero.