Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 2 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 41-13vs Wisconsin | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Wk 2 | W 52-0vs Rice | 3 | 48 | 16.0 | 0 | 23 | Season-high 48 yds |
| Total | 4 | 54 | 11.0 | 0 | 23 |
#1
Jaden Greathouse
For two cold January nights in 2025, Jaden Greathouse was the best receiver on a national-championship field. Then a hamstring ate his entire 2025 season, and the CFP hero went quiet. Now he's a healthy senior, and Notre Dame's message boards are asking the only question that matters: was that playoff run who he is, or who he was for a week?
6′1″ · 215 lb · Austin, TX · Westlake
CFB Index 56 · #158 of 466 WRsHigh confidenceReturning to Notre Dame for 2026
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
The numbers
54
receiving yards · 2026
4 catches · 13.5 per catch
2 games into 2026 so far -- Best game: 3 rec, 48 yds, vs Rice
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
For two cold January nights in 2025, Jaden Greathouse was the best receiver on a national-championship field. Then a hamstring ate his entire 2025 season, and the CFP hero went quiet. Now he's a healthy senior, and Notre Dame's message boards are asking the only question that matters: was that playoff run who he is, or who he was for a week?
- Signed as a 4-star recruit to Notre Dame in 2023.
Buzz vs Tape
Country hotter than the fans
The wider college football conversation reads him warmer than his own fans do — a gap of 29.7 points in belief.
18.9own fans
48.6national conversation
To spice things up, let’s go with Jaden Greathouse. This team needs an Alpha We to emerge and Greathouse demonstrated that capability against great competition better than anyone else on the roster during the 2025 playoff run.
In Their Words
212 windows · 2026 fan posts
jaden×85.0faison×256.4gilbert×84.1catches×29.5receiver×12.2two×7.1
The story
Greathouse's legend got written in the 2024 College Football Playoff. He went for 105 yards against Penn State in the semifinal, then dropped a career day in the title game against Ohio State -- 128 yards and two touchdowns, the only Irish receiver to crack 100 yards in a single game all year, and he did it twice when it counted most. Then 2025 happened, or rather didn't: what he called the worst hamstring injury of his life held him to 4 catches for 73 yards across the whole campaign. The discourse this offseason is pure redemption -- beat writers frame 2026 as the bounce-back year, and Greathouse himself has said this is finally when he shows the college football world what he can do.
The catch is that he doesn't return to the same room. Malachi Fields (off to the Giants in the third round) and Will Pauling are gone, but the Irish reloaded through the portal with Ohio State transfers Quincy Porter and Mylan Graham, and Jordan Faison is back after leading the team in catches (49) and yards (640) in 2025. So Greathouse isn't walking into a vacancy -- he's competing for targets from CJ Carr, a top-five returning QB and early Heisman name, in the deepest receiving corps Marcus Freeman has had. That's the perception-vs-reality tension: the name recognition is real, but the last full-season tape is two years old.
The forward stake the boards keep circling: a guy with 42 catches for 592 yards and four scores in 2024 and a national-title masterpiece on his reel should be a WR1 -- but he has to stay on the field first. If the hamstring holds, Notre Dame gets a proven closer back. If it doesn't, the room is good enough to move on without him.
SOURCES
- Notre Dame WR Jaden Greathouse Looks To Bounce Back In 2026 (Roundtable)
- Notre Dame could be getting a long-awaited weapon back at full strength (Slap the Sign)
- Greathouse has career receiving day with 128 yards, two touchdowns in national championship loss (The Observer)
- Notre Dame Needs Jaden Greathouse To Turn Flashes Into Full-Season Production (UHND)
His career
He was on the field for 4 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.
A big, sturdy 6-foot-1, 220-pound boundary receiver who plays bigger than his vertical speed -- a contested-catch, move-the-chains target rather than a burner. His best tape is physical: winning at the catch point, boxing out defenders, and coming up in the biggest moments (the fourth-down conversions and red-zone wins that defined his CFP run). The 2025 stat line is too thin to read -- 4 catches, 73 yards, but an 18.3 yards-per-catch average on the few he got, hinting the explosive element is still there when healthy. No play-by-play percentiles are available for his injury-shortened 2025, so this is a scouting read: a possession-plus-flashes profile whose ceiling is the matchup nightmare he was against Ohio State, whose floor is a reliable third option who wins where it's physical.
Written by our staff.
20238 games
- Signed with Notre Dame4-star out of Austin Westlake
Career arc
HS
Recruit
★★★★
CFB
College
Notre Dame
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
1 coach2023–2026
Notre Dame
Played his entire career under Marcus Freeman.
2026 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
4 seasons under Marcus Freeman — 36-7 over that span.
2023Notre Dame10-3HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2024Notre Dame14-2HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning
2025Notre Dame10-2HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-leaning, slow tempo
2026Notre Dame2-0HC: Marcus Freeman · Balanced
Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort
Box-score percentiles
High confidence
Concern: rec yards (0th percentile).
Box-score rates (5)
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Splits & context
Splits
Per-game splits
Through 2 games: 2.0 REC/g, 27.0 YDS/g, 11.0 YPR, 0.0 TD/g — splits start at 3 games.
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Awards
Player standing · 2026
Backup
On the two-deep and pushing for snaps.
Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career stats
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Notre Dame | 4 | 54 | 13.5 | 0 | -- |
| 2025 | Notre Dame | 4 | 73 | 18.2 | 0 | -- |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 42 | 592 | 14.1 | 4 | -- |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 18 | 265 | 14.7 | 5 | -- |
| Career | 68 | 984 | 14.5 | 9 | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Notre Dame | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Notre Dame | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | -- | -- | -- | 9 | -- |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 1 | 3 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 1 | 3 | -- | 9 | -- |
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2026
W 41–13
vs Wisconsin
1 rec · 6 yds
Dominant 28-point win at home against Wisconsin.
With C. Carr — 239 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 81.3 · -6 rush yds (2 car) · A. Williams — 90 rush yds (20 car) · 2 TD
Game log
How he plays
Play style
A big, sturdy 6-foot-1, 220-pound boundary receiver who plays bigger than his vertical speed -- a contested-catch, move-the-chains target rather than a burner. His best tape is physical: winning at the catch point, boxing out defenders, and coming up in the biggest moments (the fourth-down conversions and red-zone wins that defined his CFP run). The 2025 stat line is too thin to read -- 4 catches, 73 yards, but an 18.3 yards-per-catch average on the few he got, hinting the explosive element is still there when healthy. No play-by-play percentiles are available for his injury-shortened 2025, so this is a scouting read: a possession-plus-flashes profile whose ceiling is the matchup nightmare he was against Ohio State, whose floor is a reliable third option who wins where it's physical.
Our classifier reads him the same way: moves the chains on third down.
2026 Outlook
Notre Dame
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Wide receiver · Notre Dame · editorial
Returning around him
- 51% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
- 6 Notre Dame players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -9 net (7 in / 16 out)
2026 Award watch
- Biletnikoff
Notre Dame · Last season: 10-2 (AP #9) · Talent rank #6 · 2026 recruiting class #5
DNA match
Player DNA
Possession Receiver
Reliable target who converts on critical downs. Not flashy; consistently productive.
WR
His 2024 production profile sits closest to Jack Bech’s 2021 season.
79%match
NFL Rd 2 · Pk 26
Matches Jack on
Height
Weight
TD rate
Differs from Jack on
Class year (lower)
Recruiting rating (higher)
Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Jacob Harris’s path through UCF.
97%match
#2
Kyndon Fuselier
97%
#3
Lujuan Winningham
96%
Matches Jacob on
Yards per reception
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Kenny Johnson's sophomore season at Pittsburgh (2024).
78%match
NFL Rd 5
Matches Kenny on
Yards / reception
Weight
Total EPA (college ability)
Differs from Kenny on
EPA / play (adj) (higher)
Player DNA
Players who play like Jaden Greathouse
The receiver room · Notre Dame
- #6Jordan Faison640 receiving yards · 2025
- #14Micah Gilbert93 receiving yards · 2025
- #3Mylan Graham93 receiving yards · 2025
- #1Jaden Greathouse73 receiving yards · 2025
- Quincy Porter59 receiving yards · 2025
11 more on the roster · Notre Dame team page
Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology