Jaden Greathouse injury update: Notre Dame WR to miss sixth-straight game

Notre Dame junior wide receiver Jaden Greathouse will miss his sixth-straight game, the Irish announced Thursday. He has been ruled out with a hamstring injury for Saturday’s game at Pittsburgh.

Greathouse was listed as questionable on Monday’s injury report, but based on Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman‘s comments — including the reveal that he had blood drawn from his hamstring last week — he seemed unlikely to return to the lineup.

“JG is putting in so much work in trying to get that hamstring to where it needs to go, where it needs to be,” Freeman said. “We had to extract some blood from his hamstring just because part of the healing process is when some blood builds up, you’ve got to extract it and continue to get that muscle stronger.”

Greathouse caught 4 passes for 73 yards in Notre Dame’s first four games before suffering that hamstring injury in practice before the Irish defeated Boise State on Oct. 4. His injury was initially believed to be minor, but it was more severe than Notre Dame originally thought.

“Mentally, he’s been in a good place,” Freeman said. “He’s as frustrated as anybody. He wants to be out there. So we’ve just got to, ‘Hey, keep working.’ And we’ll see what happens here in the next days, weeks, depending how he heals.”

It’s been a disappointing season for Greathouse, who was not as involved in the offense as he hoped when he was healthy and has dealt with a frustrating injury. Still, Notre Dame sees him as a key piece whenever he does return — even if his first game back is not until December.

While this was not the plan from the beginning, Greathouse does have a redshirt year available. If he missed Week 13 vs. Syracuse and Week 14 at Stanford as well, he would get a year of eligibility back and return in 2026 with two years to play.

College Football Playoff games, to be clear, do not count toward the four-game maximum for a player’s redshirt.

With Greathouse out, redshirt senior Will Pauling will start in the slot, a position he has excelled in as a complementary offensive weapon this year. Pauling has 21 receptions for 361 yards and a team-high 5 touchdowns in 2025, his first season with the Irish after transferring from Wisconsin.

More Notre Dame injury news: WR Micah Gilbert (hand) to play Saturday at Pitt

Notre Dame redshirt freshman wide receiver Micah Gilbert will play for the first time since Oct. 11 vs. NC State, when he injured his hand. He was listed as questionable on Monday, but he was not on the injury report on Thursday.

Gilbert has caught 4 passes for 54 yards and a touchdown in six games so far this season.

Additionally, junior tight end Cooper Flanagan (Achilles) and redshirt junior Donovan Hinish (concussion) remain questionable. Their game day status will be revealed on Saturday.