Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 OCT. 4, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Time To Play Will Pauling By Tyler Horka Notre Dame got Will Pauling the ball on consecutive plays in the third quarter against Purdue, and he took the touches for 29 yards. Jaden Great- house, meanwhile, never touched the ball against the Boilermakers. And he had as many catches as Pauling had in that one sequence over all of Notre Dame's first three games. Just 2. For whatever reason(s), the connection between redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr and Great- house just isn't there in the early going of the sea- son. Per Pro Football Focus, Greathouse ran 47 receiving routes in the first three games and was targeted only five times. Pauling ran 25 and was targeted four times. There are elements of getting open and making himself available to the quarterback that Pauling provides as a redshirt senior but Greathouse is still coming into his own with as a junior. With more reps, Pauling can give more value, and there is just a quality of inefficiency that's hanging over Greathouse's current usage. The silver lining is, Greathouse is still going to play in the backup capac- ity Pauling served in over the first one-fourth of the season. And maybe a switch-up in his role could light the fire he proved he possesses in the Col- lege Football Playoff. He's not a bad player. He just needs to find his game. The answer could be in coming off the sideline with extra motivation and a rejuvenated sense of purpose. The way I see it, starting Pauling is a win-win for Notre Dame. Stick With Jaden Greathouse By Tyler James The passing game production for junior wide receiver Jaden Greathouse didn't meet preseason expectations in Notre Dame's first three games of the season. He caught just 2 passes for 41 yards in those games for the Irish. That's the same number of receptions Greathouse caught for touchdowns in January's national championship loss to Ohio State. For whatever reason, Greathouse hasn't been a primary target for redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr very often. PFF counted five Greathouse targets in the first three games. However, that doesn't mean Greathouse can't remain a valuable piece in Notre Dame's offense. So long as the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Greathouse re- mains committed to run blocking, he's worth keeping on the field for his big-play potential. As we've seen in his first two seasons, he's fully capable of making contested catches and bailing out a QB in need. Quarterback Riley Leonard waited until the end of last season to fully lean on Greathouse. That resulted in 13 catches for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns in the final two games of the CFP run. Maybe Carr needs time to establish that same kind of trust in Greathouse. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock should try to design more opportuni- ties for Greathouse to excel in the passing game. That hasn't been necessary for the Irish offense so far, but it would be helpful to keep Greathouse engaged. After a quiet start, maybe defenses will start to lose track of Greathouse. Carr and Greathouse need to be ready to take advantage of such instances. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHO SHOULD BE NOTRE DAME'S STARTING SLOT RECEIVER? It was difficult to land on a definitively bright spot for the Notre Dame defensive front in the early go- ing of the 2025 season, but any time anyone tried, one player in particular seemed to keep surfacing. Gabriel Rubio. A redshirt senior defensive tackle, Rubio earned his status as a starter on the interior of the defen- sive line and made pretty good on it with multiple winning reps in home games against Texas A&M and Purdue. He's determined to keep playing well and progressing as the season goes along. Blue & Gold Illustrated caught up with Rubio to discuss the state of the Notre Dame locker room after two early losses, development of the Notre Dame defense and more. BGI: How do you make sure everyone is bought into head coach Marcus Freeman's message after starting 0-2? Rubio: "Just observation. You've got to listen to what the guys are saying in the locker room. On the field, you've got to see how they act on the field because actions speak louder than words, so when someone's not getting to where they need to go, you've got to nip that in the bud, otherwise it becomes a bigger problem." BGI: What does the Notre Dame defensive line need to do to pull its weight in turning the entire unit into a more formidable group? Rubio: "Containing the quarterback. Keeping the quarterback in the pocket. Interior guys, I know we had a little trouble with the B-gap escape routes [against Purdue]. But I feel like as we continue to progress, our trust will elevate, not that we don't trust each other. It's just elevate even more." BGI: What elements do you focus on when try- ing to get after opposing quarterbacks? Rubio: "You've got to be smart in space. Spa- tial awareness is a key when rushing the passer. You've got to know how your body affects the other three or four rushing. You've got to know your job and sometimes know the job of other guys with you so you can evenly distribute your- selves across the board." BGI: What goes into improvement as it relates to stopping the run, which you guys did pretty well against Texas A&M and Purdue? Rubio: "Definitely communication, getting our cleats in the ground, making sure we can see the full picture of what the offense is giving us. Adjust- ing on the fly, having answers to problems that we may or may not have and then just violence. "Violence is an answer to a lot of different things." BGI: Does it ever hit you how important Notre Dame football is to communities all over the country? Rubio: "It definitely really hit whenever I came here and then I started to look around and see that what I do here doesn't just affect me or my family, it affects the lives of other people. "I know guys back home who watch the games who get sad, they get angry whenever we don't perform well, and they're ecstatic, they're jump- ing off the walls whenever we do perform well. To have that much of a sway over a sport is definitely something special." — Tyler Horka Five Questions With … REDSHIRT SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE GABRIEL RUBIO Rubio had 4 quarterback pressures through three games, tied for the second most among all interior defensive linemen on the roster. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER PAULING GREATHOUSE