The past year for Bryce Love has been about as difficult as one can imagine.

Love tore his ACL during the final game of his college career against the University of California, and he has since undergone a lengthy recovery process. He was at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2019 but only participated in the bench press, and he has yet to play a snap for the Redskins since he was drafted in the fourth round of last year's draft.

Love likes to focus on the positives, though, and one of them is that while he hasn't gotten to play in an NFL game, he's been able to sit back, learn and prepare for his NFL debut.

"Just seeing all those things and being able to learn those things as well as how to learn an offense, how to attack gameday," Love told Redskins.com's Kyle Stackpole and Gabe Henderson on "The Rundown." "Those are huge things for me, and being to be where I am now, I have the ultimate goal of being ready to play."

Love has been a highly-touted athlete for most of his life. He set U.S. records for 11-year-olds in the 100- and 400-meter races. He was also a Heisman Trophy finalist during a 2,000-plus-yard junior campaign in 2017.

His ACL injury took a toll on his draft stock, though, and NFL.com's Lance Zierlein projected Love to go in the fifth or sixth round.

The process has been difficult, but Love said he has "matured a lot."

"Just having your head down and working has been my biggest thing," Love said. "There's definitely good days and there's bad days, but understanding that it's a process and the ultimate goal is still the same and chasing that with the goal of not only being back to where I was but better than I was."

It's helped that he has had players like Adrian Peterson and Derrius Guice to learn from during his recovery process. Peterson and Guice have had their own history with knee issues -- Guice has had three in the past two seasons -- and it has helped Love to see how each handles themselves as professional players.

"See how [Peterson] goes throughout the day, see how Derrius prepares...just seeing all those things and being able to learn those things as well as how to learn an offense, how to attack gameday," Love said.

Love knows Peterson likes to stay later than most of his teammates and does different workouts to stay in shape. But that isn't what impresses Love the most; it's how Peterson has managed to always be there for young players who are still trying to make their mark in the NFL.

"For all the accolades that he's had and all the success that he has had, for him to still be down to earth and still be cool, approachable, relatable, that's been big for me, big for my development and it's good to have him out here for sure."

Love said the biggest thing for him is to understand that his recovery is a process. That is similar to the advice that running backs coach Randy Jordan said he gave to Love when he made an appearance on "The Rundown."

"Rome wasn't built in a day, so you have to have a process," Jordan said. "He has to trust the process. I think if he continues to do that, just building blocks, day by day by day, he'll be fine."

Jordan says Love "can really attack any area of the football field." He's been in the meetings and knows how the team operates, so Jordan doesn't foresee any issues with him transitioning what he has learned in the past year to the field.

Love feels like he can do a little bit of everything, which will help raise his value as a part of a talented running back group that features Peterson and Guice. He just wants to contribute in any way, and he's willing to do anything the coaches ask of him.

When that day finally comes, Love knows he'll be ready for it.

"At the end of the day, I'm focused on being my best self...making the team and contributing and doing all those things at a high level."