Jaden Greathouse Makes Great First Impression

Freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse opened eyes with his big performance in Saturday's Blue-Gold football game

They say first impressions are everything, and Notre Dame freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse made a great first impression on those who had the chance to see him catch a football in Saturday’s Blue-Gold spring football game.

Greathouse led all receivers in Saturday’s final football session of the spring with 11 receptions for 118 yards. Both numbers led all receivers in the game. Not bad for a freshman early enrollee.

"The balls just kept coming to me and I just kept trying to stay disciplined and trying to do what I'm supposed to do and they just kept coming my way,” Greathouse said of his big day. "So, I'll never complain about that. But it's all thanks to the quarterbacks giving me the ball in the first place, and they did a great job as well.”

The quarterbacks he was referring to were Sam Hartman and Steve Angeli. Hartman made a good impression himself by completing 13 of his 16 pass attempts for 179 yards and two touchdown passes in his first Notre Dame spring game after transferring from Wake Forest.

"We're kind of in similar positions,” Greathouse said of Hartman. "Minus he's played a lot more years in college than I have, but it's definitely helped us find a good common ground and we're just trying to learn from our mistakes and just try to get better every single play.

"He's a tremendous player,” Greathouse continued. “All of our quarterbacks are, so it's definitely relieving to have guys like that, that confirm in the ball. So, I'm really appreciative that we had those kinds of guys and I'm super excited for what comes next.”

Angeli put together a solid stat line as well. The rising sophomore, who was an early enrollee a year ago, was 8 for 12 for 72 yards after entering the game in relief of Hartman late in the first half.

Saturday’s spring game was practice No. 15 of Greathouse’s college career. He has grown rapidly since practice number one, which took place on March 22, exactly one month before Saturday’s spring game.

"I feel like the difference is night and day,” Greathouse offered. "Just learning the plays (and) trying to get lined up in the correct spots just helped me play a lot faster. (Wide receivers) Coach (Chansi Stuckey) has been doing a great job of coaching all of us mid-years to really get used to the speed of the game. And so, once we got the plays down like that, we'll be able to go so much faster.”

Greathouse is one of three freshman early enrollees this spring. The others are fellow Texas native Braylon James and California native Rico Flores Jr. James went without a catch in Saturday’s game, while Flores had just one reception for no gain, but the trio all have their fair share of spotlight moments during the spring. The unit has also bonded since arriving together.

“It's been a blast,” Greathouse said of playing with James and Flores this spring. “I love those guys, Rico and Braylon and everybody else in the receiver room. We're all super close and we all love to have a good time. We'd like to have a good time in the locker room and then when it comes to the field, we're always battling and trying to compete against each other. So it's just pushing us to be better every single day and there will definitely be something special coming in the fall.”

Stuckey described the 6-1, 213-pound Greathouse with adjectives like “slippery” and “nifty” earlier this spring. He showed some of that along with reliable hands on a cold, wet day that’s a lot different from the weather in his native Austin, TX area.

“I take a lot of pride in my route running,” said Greathouse. “So, definitely just trying to improve in any way that I can. Adjusting to the speed of the game, it's been a pretty big challenge. It's a lot faster than high school, but I'm definitely slowly but surely getting there and I'm excited for the summer so we can work.”

Final exams will begin in a couple weeks at Notre Dame. The team will go home for a few weeks and then reconvene in mid-June to begin summer conditioning workouts. Fall training camp will begin in August.

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