Notre Dame Provides Injury Update On Jaden Greathouse

News of Greathouse's absence for Saturday's game isn't entirely surprising, given coach Marcus Freeman's comments during Monday's press conference.

"JG's putting in so much work on trying to get that hamstring to where it needs to go, where it needs to be," Freeman said. "Last week, we had to extract some blood from his hamstring just because part of the healing process, there's some blood build-up, you gotta extract it and continue to get that muscle stronger."

"Mentally, he's been a good spot, a good place. He's as frustrated as anybody. He wants to be out there. And so we gotta keep working, keep working, and then we'll see what happens here in the next days, weeks and how he heals."

2025 was supposed to be Greathouse's year

For much of the 2024 season, Greathouse played a modest role in Notre Dame's offense. Through 13 games, including College Football Playoff wins over Indiana and Georgia, he hauled in 29 receptions for 359 yards and a touchdown.

And down the stretch, he had just one catch in each of Notre Dame's four games from Nov. 16 to Dec. 20. That made his emergence in the College Football Playoff semifinals all the more important, and perhaps surprising, too.

Greathouse made two deadly cuts against the Penn State defense for a game-tying, 54-yard touchdown with 4:38 to play. In a 27-24 victory over the Nittany Lions that sent the Irish to the national championship, he led the team with seven receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown.

And when Notre Dame looked completely out of the national championship game against Ohio State, Greathouse made big plays to spark the comeback. He caught a 34-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, and then hauled in a 30-yard score in the fourth quarter to make it a one-possession game.

Although Notre Dame fell short in the title game, Greathouse's effort against Penn State and Ohio State created high expectations going into the 2025 season. He finished 2024 as Notre Dame's leading receiver with 592 yards, 233 of which came in the last two games.

But due to injury, he's been limited to just four catches for 73 yards in two games against Texas A&M and Arkansas this season. Getting him back for the College Football Playoff could be a major addition for Notre Dame's hopes of another title run.

How will Notre Dame fare without Greathouse?

Malachi Fields and Will Pauling have proven to be two important transfer portal additions from this past offseason, especially because of Greathouse's injury.

Fields, a 6-foot-4 target from Virginia, is second on the team with 25 receptions for 497 yards. Pauling, a slot receiver from Wisconsin, leads the Irish with five receiving touchdowns and ranks fourth with 361 yards.

The two transfers have complemented returning wide receiver Jordan Faison well. Faison has been quarterback CJ Carr's go-to target, leading the team with 43 receptions and 545 yards.

The Irish have enough with Faison, Fields and Pauling to cover for Greathouse's absence, but it would certainly be nice to have another talented receiving threat for defenses to think about and for depth purposes.

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