Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love, CB Leonard Moore named consensus All-Americans

Anyone who watched Notre Dame this season knows junior running back Jeremiyah Love and sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore were the best in the country at their respective positions. That is now official.

Love and Moore have reached consensus All-American status. They have been named first-team All-Americans by three of the five outlets that determine consensus and unanimous All-Americans: Walter Camp, the Associated Press (AP) and today, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).

Notre Dame now has 113 consensus All-Americans in its history, which is the most of all time by a significant margin. Ohio State is second with 98.

If Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) agree with the other three, Love and Moore earn unanimous All-American status. Only 37 players in program history have done so, most recently offensive tackle Joe Alt and safety Xavier Watts in 2023.

Love and Moore are the first Notre Dame players named consensus All-Americans at their respective positions since running back Vagas Ferguson in 1979 and cornerback Julian Love in 2018. They would be the first named unanimous All-Americans at their spots since running back Nick Eddy in 1966 and cornerback Shane Walton in 2002.

Love’s phenomenal season ended with a third-place finish for the Heisman Trophy, which Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza won. A threat to score every time he touched the ball, Love scored touchdowns of 94, 48, 46, 45 and 68 yards in November alone.

Love finished the year with 1,372 rushing yards on 199 carries (6.9 yards per attempt). He also caught 27 passes for 280 yards, giving him 1,652 yards from scrimmage. Love tied Audric Estimé‘s program record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 18 and broke Jerome Bettis‘ record for total touchdowns with 21. He also set the record for most rushing yards by a Notre Dame player at Notre Dame Stadium with 228 on Oct. 18 against USC.

While his numbers were not necessarily Heisman-worthy or even All-American-worthy on their own, Love made it to New York as a finalist and earned consensus All-American status by being the most electric player in college football. Whether it was a vicious spin move, a lightning-speed burst through a tiny seam or bouncing off a tackler despite being dragged on top of him, Love put on a show with every jaw-dropping carry.

Moore was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which goes to the best defensive back in college football (Ohio State’s Caleb Downs won it). He Moore finished the year with 31 tackles, 5 interceptions, 7 pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Moore’s Pro Football Focus defense grade of 92.0 and coverage grade of 92.6 both led all Power Four cornerbacks this season. Quarterbacks targeting Moore went 26-of-48 (54.2 percent) for 201 yards, which is good for an extremely low 4.2 yards per attempt.

Throwing on Moore was a straight-up bad idea in 2025, which several signal-callers found out the hard way. His masterpiece, though, was Notre Dame’s 34-24 win over USC on Oct. 18. The Irish had him shadow star Trojans wide receiver Makai Lemon, who led the Power Four in receiving with 1,156 yards this season, throughout the night.

Lemon primarily plays in the slot, a position Moore rarely occupies. No matter. Lemon caught 2 passes for 28 yards on 3 targets against Moore, and Notre Dame contained USC’s high-flying passing attack as a result.

Sporting News releases its All-American list on Wednesday, while the FWAA releases theirs on Thursday. We’ll find out then if Love and Moore join truly rare company.

This story will be updated.