2025 was supposed to be the breakout season for Notre Dame wide receiver Jaden Greathouse. Now he's hit yet another roadblock to any offensive explosion.
According to multiple reports, Greathouse is out for the Boise State game. The reports come despite head coach Marcus Freeman not mentioning him as part of his injury report during Thursday's press conference.
Notre Dame football wide receiver Jaden Greathouse ruled out vs. Boise State
Irish Sports Daily's Matt Freeman was the first to report Notre Dame will be without Greathouse this weekend, but numerous other Fighting Irish insiders soon backed up his report.
According to Freeman, the wide receiver suffered a right thigh injury during practice late in the week. If there is a piece of good news, it's that Freeman and Co. don't expect Greathouse to miss a ton of time. The other piece of good news is that Notre Dame does have depth at the slot position. Will Pauling will likely see more action and has already notched 7 catches for 95 yards and a touchdown this year, while redshirt freshman Logan Saldate and sophomore Matt Jeffery are also options.
The injury update is far from good news for Greathouse, who has once again been an afterthought in ND's offense after breaking out in the playoffs last season. So far this year, he has just 4 catches for 73 yards and hasn't found the endzone yet. Both Miami and Purdue kept him entirely off the stat sheet. It's not as though he's even getting opportunities as he's only been targeted 8 times.
Notre Dame’s top wideouts at the other two receiver positions, Jordan Faison and Malachi Fields, have been targeted 25 and 22 times, respectively.
For his career, Greathouse has 64 catches, 930 yards, and 9 touchdowns. He was Notre Dame's best pass-catching option in the two biggest games of the 2024 season against Penn State in the Orange Bowl and Ohio State in the national championship game. In those two matchups, Greathouse went for 13 catches, 233 yards, and 3 touchdowns.
While Notre Dame likely won't need him for Boise State, the Irish need him to get healthy and take charge like he did in the postseason last year if they want to have the best chance they can to make the playoffs for a second straight season.