Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SUMMER 2025 25 first couple of seasons in South Bend. This could have ended up as another Notre Dame wide receiver class that failed to add sustained, tangible production. Jaden Greathouse made sure it was not. Greathouse has posted 60 catches for 857 yards and 9 touchdowns through two seasons. Those numbers are good, espe- cially considering there haven't been any Irish wideouts capable of accumulating them in the last three to four years. It's been since Kevin Austin Jr. in 2021 that a Notre Dame wideout reached 800 yards in one season. Yes, it took Greathouse two campaigns to get there, but what he showed in the College Football Playoff this past season hints he might be able to get there in one as a junior. Greathouse had back-to-back 100- yard games in the Orange Bowl versus Penn State and in the national champi- onship game against Ohio State. His pre- vious career high for receiving yards in a single game was 71 in a blowout of Wake Forest in 2023. Anomaly or a real break- out? Probably somewhere in the middle. If he's closer to the guy who put up those statistics in the two biggest games of the year than he is to the one who had 6, 8 and 6 receiving yards in the three games prior versus USC, Indiana and Georgia, though, Notre Dame will be in business. Moreover, the Irish will have made good on their wide receiver signees from the class of 2023 even with losing half of them and remaining in limbo with the outlook of Smith. One of the four turn- ing into a true WR1 will be well worth it. "It's really just about having a re- lentless mindset every single day, and understanding why I'm here and why I play the game that I love and why I'm out here every day when it's early in the morning and it's cold," Greathouse said. "I work hard every single day and I find new ways to push myself to achieve my goals and make the people that support me proud of me." A STARTING QUARTERBACK? In December, it might've seemed impossible for Notre Dame's starting quarterback to be from the junior class. It was either senior Steve Angeli or sophomore CJ Carr, right? Wrong. It's either Carr or junior Kenny Minchey. Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli, of course, didn't have anything poor to say about any of the signal-call- ers he was overseeing this spring, Angeli included. He actually said Angeli was approaching the three-way competition like it was not just his job to lose but like it was already his job. Not out of cocki- ness, but rather, confidence. He felt like his time was now, which surely made it tough for him to make the decision he did in April — to transfer to Syracuse. Minchey stayed to keep battling with Carr, meanwhile, and what Guidugli said about him in March makes that make sense. He's not the wide-eyed un- derstudy anymore. He's a legit starting quarterback candidate. "Mentally, Kenny's on it now," Gui- dugli said. "We do a script review every practice in our meeting before we walk out. Kenny's the guy who's gonna come in and when the coach is making a mis- take on the script, he's gonna be the first one to say, 'Hey, on Play 12, is that sup- posed to be —' 'No, Kenny, you're right. That was supposed to be this.'" On the field, Minchey's upside is in his mobility. He's got the "it" factor as a runner when plays are designed to keep the ball in his hands and when he's got to take it upon himself to improvise. "Kenny's probably the most athletic of the bunch," Guidugli said. He's also a better thrower than some give him credit for. He used to go toe- to-toe with Sam Hartman in longest throw competitions two years ago. Minchey was a true freshman. Hart- man was a sixth-year graduate student. Guidugli didn't mention arm strength as a Minchey attribute. Perhaps that goes without saying. He did bring up accuracy, though, so don't look at his Blue-Gold Game stat line of 6-of-15 passing and discount his ability to place the ball where it needs to be. In larger sample sizes, he absolutely has it. He just might have a real shot of win- ning this job, too. "It feels like there is more possibil- ity that I could be the guy," Minchey said. ✦ Wide receiver Jaden Greathouse is closing in on 1,000 yards for his career. He had back-to-back 100- yard games to finish the 2024 season. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER