Washington Football Team just released one of the top running backs in college football history. According to the NFL‘s official transaction wire, Washington waived running back Bryce Love due to the failed physical. He was drafted by Washington in the fourth round in 2019 but could never get his career going because of several setbacks, including tearing his ACL in the final college game of his career at Stanford.
Love didn’t see any action in 2019. And in 2020, Love was active for a few games before being placed on injured reserve in October. With Love being on waivers, teams have 24 hours to claim his rights before he becomes a free agent.
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A fresh start might just what Love needs in order to get his NFL career going. While attending Stanford, Love became one of the top running backs in the country in 2017. Along with being named a unanimous All-American, Love was named Pac-12 Offensive Player the Year and he won the Lombardi Award as well as the Doak Walker Award. He finished the 2017 season with 2,118 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns in 13 games. Love was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy that year, losing to Baker Mayfield. He returned to Stanford for his senior season in 2018, which was surprising for experts but not for Stanford coach David Shaw.
“I was not surprised,” Shaw said at the time. “I wouldn’t have been surprised either way because both had legitimate arguments for him to leave or come back. In my heart of hearts, if I had to guess what he would have done, I would have guessed that he would have come back, just knowing what goals he has both in football and out of football.”
Shaw went on to say that Love wanted to “get stronger and be a little thicker, more prepared physically for the pounding of the NFL, and at the same time, I know what he wants to do off the field in his desire to go to medical school. He’s ahead, way ahead academically to the point where he’s got a chance to graduate the spring -I’m sorry, the fall quarter of his senior year, which is amazing to be in human biology at Stanford University and graduate two quarters early while playing football. That’s amazing. I know he takes both of those very seriously.”
