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Talk about a sigh of relief.
When the New York Giants re-group in the coming months to prepare for the 2021 season, it will be the first time since high school that defensive back Julian Love will have the same defensive coordinator in consecutive years.
Love played for three different defensive coaches in all three of his collegiate seasons at the University of Notre Dame — before having to learn two systems in his first two seasons with the Giants, first under James Bettcher, and last year for current DC Patrick Graham.
Luckily, after a successful campaign, Graham signed a multi-year extension with the Giants shortly after the conclusion of the regular season and Love could not be happier.
“I’m excited to build with coach Graham,” Love told Giants Wire. “In the long run, learning multiple systems has helped me become a well-rounded player, but I’m excited to finally hunker down with a smart leader. It’s definitely something we have going for us as a team.
“We have a lot of pieces and weapons, which will allow us to get creative this offseason. We need to get the foundation going. We want to be that dynamic, tough and physical defense that we know we are capable of being.”
Although they finished 6-10 and missed out on winning their putrid division by one game, the Giants showed promise. And as Love referenced, part of this promise stemmed from the players buying into the philosophy of first-year head coach Joe Judge.
“It took all of us a little bit of time, but coach Judge was so transparent. I think we all really bought into what was going on and that’s only going to improve next season,” said Love.
On Tuesday, veteran safety Logan Ryan, who also just signed an extension of his own with the Giants, joined The Bart & Hahn show on ESPN Radio and echoed Love’s sentiments about the current state of the team.
“Some teams start in a better position than others,” Ryan told ESPN Radio. “We are going to be starting at a much better point than we did last year. We took our bruises and got bloodied up — we didn’t bite no kneecaps, but we got back up. The foundation was laid, and we know what we got (now) in some of our core pieces returning.”
Like Ryan, Love has played every position in the secondary in his young NFL career despite only having two-years of experience. And what should come as no surprise, Ryan has been a big influence on the versatile Love.
“His goals are the nuances of winning, which is something special you need in the locker room. He always had great wisdom for me as a guy who has also been very versatile in his career. He is a very selfless player and a huge help to me in my game,” said Love.
At the start of the season, Love was asked to fill in at free safety, a spot where he had little experience, in place of injured 2020 second-round draft pick Xavier McKinney. And for someone who is used to playing a more aggressive style, learning this new role was admittedly a challenge at first for the 22-year-old.
“Naturally, I do like to kind of be more in the action. It took a little bit for me to chill out and not try to be up in there so much. It was a growing period,” said Love.
Not only did Love have to learn multiple positions, but he also had to deal with a fluctuation in playing time at several points in the season.
“Our defensive backs coach (Jerome Henderson) was transparent with me. It happened a few times throughout the year. You might play a lot one week and a little the next. That was the case for me, especially earlier on in the year when I had some lingering injuries holding me back. But it’s just the nature of the game, I didn’t whine or pout about it. I just kept going and knew I was a ball player,” Love said.
“It can effect your rhythm — and honestly, it’s hard in general for young players. Confidence is a real thing, and some guys are too prideful. You need to have a certain amount of pride in yourself, but you can’t let it hinder you and I didn’t let that happen. I played with a positive attitude despite some trials.”
While Love said he does not have a preferred position, he was very excited when the Giants’ coaching staff informed him he would be starting at outside cornerback against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17.
In his years at Notre Dame, Love played boundary corner throughout college and led the NCAA in passes defensed from 2017-18.
In 2018, he earned Consensus All-American honors and was a finalist for The Jim Thorpe award, which is given to the best defensive back in college football.
According to Love, his Giants teammates gave him a new nickname leading up to his assignment versus Dallas.
“They were calling me ‘Jim Thorpe’ all week trying to motivate me and get me going back to the old days. I was very locked in that week with my preparation. I took that pretty serious because I knew how big that game was for us. It was a chance to make the playoffs and finish 4-2 in the division on the season. We got the win, and I did my part, so I was definitely happy about the outcome,” said Love.
Love also cited the tremendous support he received from Pro Bowl cornerback James Bradberry, who helped prepare him to play corner for the first time in the NFL.
“Bradberry is a very smart football player. He would share every little thing he sees from nuggets to big play opportunities. He was helping me a lot that whole week. He eventually just said I gave you all I got and told me he was going to let me do my thing,” said Love.
Oddly enough, NFL draft scouts believed Love was “too slow” to play cornerback at the next level despite his success in college.
“I don’t know what went into that process. I did my thing there when I was at Notre Dame. I think I have great game speed and was able to shine a little bit at safety, corner and nickel. It was a question of being selfless wherever I played,” said Love.
Love more than held his own against some seriously talented wide receivers on Dallas’ offense in Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. The Notre Dame product played 99 percent of the snaps on defense at cornerback while picking up 7 tackles and a pass defensed.
Love finished the year with a career-high 64 tackles in six starts while also recording an interception and three passes defensed.
Moving forward, Love plans on cross-training at multiple positions this offseason, so that he is ready to answer the call, wherever he is asked to play next year.
“I’m one of those guys who’s going to try to put my best foot forward wherever I line up. I’m going to work on training at every position this offseason, so that I can hit the ground running wherever they put me next year,” he said.
“I was definitely more comfortable in year-two. It’s always a grind when learning a new system. I was able to play all over the field and gain more confidence.”
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