Texas A&M offered Jaden Greathouse during his high school career at Austin (Texas) Westlake, but nothing came of it.
The Aggies never really followed up with the four-star wide receiver recruit from their home state. But No. 20 Texas A&M likely paid plenty of attention to Greathouse in preparing for Saturday’s season opener against No. 7 Notre Dame (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC).
Entering his sophomore season with the Irish, Greathouse switched his jersey number to 1 not only because he liked the way he looked, but it signaled the wide receiver role he wants to fill.
“I feel like if I want to take on a wide receiver 1 position,” Greathouse said Tuesday, “I gotta be able to wear it on my chest, and I gotta be able to take the responsibilities of whatever that comes with. Just take it head on and keep pushing throughout each day and be the best player that I can be.”
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Greathouse, who wore No. 19 last season, has a legitimate chance to fulfill that leading role among Notre Dame’s wide receivers in 2024. Greathouse led Notre Dame with five receiving touchdowns last season despite catching only 18 passes for 265 yards.
Greathouse started hot last season with three catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns in the season-opening win over Navy in Dublin, Ireland. He caught nine passes for 98 yards and one touchdown in the next four games following his college debut, but his production tanked after missing the Duke game with a hamstring injury.
Greathouse didn’t catch a pass in the next four games despite starting in three of them. He closed out the regular season with four catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns in the regular season finale. Then Greathouse caught two passes for 13 yards in the 40-8 Sun Bowl rout of Oregon State.
Looking back at the season opener in Dublin has allowed Greathouse to reaffirm confidence in his abilities and enter College Station, Texas, with that some kind of swagger.
“I’ve prepared for this situation,” Greathouse said. “I’ve been doing this all my life. There’s no reason I should go out there and have any reason to fear and think that I’m not going to get my job done, because constantly throughout my life I’ve been able to step up in big moments. That’s what I plan to do this weekend.”
A prolific career at Westlake gave Greathouse plenty of confidence at the high school level. His team won three state championships and he set school records in career receptions (232), career receiving yards (4,035) and career receiving touchdowns (53). Perhaps returning to his home state for the second time in his career will allow Greathouse a chance to rekindle that kind of playmaking in Notre Dame’s offense.
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Greathouse’s home in Austin is a lot closer to College Station (roughly a two-hour drive) than El Paso (nearly nine hours), so he’s expecting a lot of familiar faces in the crowd at Kyle Field.
“I got a lot of friends that go to A&M,” Greathouse said. “I got a lot of friends that will be in Austin driving down to the game, a lot of family that will be there. I got everybody there.”
And playing in Texas truly matters to Greathouse.
“It means everything for me,” Greathouse said. “I dreamed to be in the position all my life. Then to be able to go back home and be able to play in front of a bunch of friends and family, it’s everything to me, this opportunity. I’m going to definitely do my best to make the most of it.”
Greathouse began the work to put himself in this position soon after Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard arrived on campus. It helped that Leonard was very proactive in trying to develop relationships with his new teammates.
After the completion of spring practice, which Leonard missed most of recovering from a second surgery on his foot/ankle, Greathouse joined a few of his fellow wide receivers on a retreat of sorts in Leonard’s hometown of Fairhope, Ala. The trip included time spent working out on the field together, but it also allowed the group to hang out and get to know each other better. Greathouse went fishing for the first time and caught his first fish. He should be able to catch his first in-game pass from Leonard on Saturday.
The work between Greathouse and Leonard beyond practice time continued into this week.
“Each day we’re getting out there and critiquing new things and just trying to push each other to be the best versions of each other every day,” Greathouse said, “whether that’s with our technique or whether that’s being better leaders and leading the team with our examples and being more vocal. All those kinds of things.
“Just finding ways to better each other each and every single day in whatever aspect of our game that is. We’re becoming better because of it.”
Greathouse’s game should be one that’s friendly to quarterbacks. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Greathouse push himself to become more explosive this offseason, but his knack for working in and out of zones and making himself available to quarterbacks should led to many balls thrown his way. That’s why he’s so valuable working as a slot receiver.
“JG is super crafty,” said Notre Dame nickelback Jordan Clark. “If I had to player comp him, he’s like a Davante Adams type of guy. Crafty in his routes, a bigger person than you think he is too, so you have to stop him from catching the ball even if you do stay with him.”
Call Greathouse whatever you want. He’s wearing the jersey number of what he really wants to become.
“I’m not just one kind of player,” Greathouse said. “If you want to call me crafty, I can be crafty. If you want to call me explosive, I can be explosive. Whatever you want to call me, I can do it.
“I’m just trying to each and every single day, take one part of my game and make it better than it was the next day. Over time, keeping stacking days, week after week, month after month, year after year, keep becoming better until I’m able to be the No. 1 receiver that I want to be.”
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