Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love offers eye-opening look at NIL reality

For many athletes, hearing their name called during the NFL is a life-changing experience. If you're lucky and get selected in the first round of the draft, it not only signifies all of the hard work that you've put in, but also acts as a major financial change, resulting in a multi-million dollar payday that can change things not only for you, but for your entire family.

While that still holds true, things have changed slightly in the era of name, image, and likeness, though. For anyone, news that you're being given a contract worth $40 million is major, of course, but when you have already made upwards of a million dollars at the college level, it may not be quite as life-changing as it was.

Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love is putting words to this idea. After being selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Love signed a record-setting four-year, fully guaranteed $53.02 million rookie contract, making him one of the highest-paid backs in the NFL before playing a single game.

So, what is Love going to buy first with all of that money?

Well, apparently nothing. Thanks to the lucrative college career he put together in South Bend, Love recently said he doesn't plan to touch the money from his Cardinals contract.

“I live in the era of NIL, so I’m pretty well off already,” Love said, via Griffin S. DeMarrais of Arizona’s Family KTVK 3TV. “I really don’t need to touch that money, as of right now. I most definitely will not.”

Love instead plans to put that money away for his family and kids, focusing on generational wealth and setting up his future. This is incredibly smart, especially when you think about how frivolous RBs' careers in the NFL can sometimes be.

Should things go well for Love during his first few years in Arizona, there is also a second NFL contract to come for Love, as well, which could be even bigger than the first. If that happens, and his mentality stays the same, the entire family will be set up for decades to come.