Jaden Greathouse looks to make a big splash in the title game: “It’s made for the moment”

Nicole Giles couldn’t watch.

With 4:38 left in the Orange Bowl and Penn State leading Notre Dame 24-17 after back-to-back touchdown drives, Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard stepped back and found Jaden Greathouse wide open for a 54-yard score that tied the game. On the play, Greathouse lined up in the slot, knocked a defender to the ground, found himself alone, caught the pass and knocked down a second defender before sprinting into the end zone untouched.

Entering the game, Greathouse, a sophomore, had only caught 29 passes for 359 yards and one touchdown this season. In the College Football Playoff semifinal, he made seven receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown, becoming the first Notre Dame wide receiver to have more than 100 receiving yards in a single game this season. Two of those catches came on the tying drive, including an 11-yard catch to get out of a second-and-14 situation, and then a 6-yard catch on the ensuing third-and-3.

“That game was definitely a confidence booster,” Greathouse said this week.

Later, in the locker room, teammates called Greathouse “one of one,” a nod to the recent ‘Gunna’ album, Greathouse explained. But Greathouse’s mother, Giles, who was sitting in her seat inside the Orange Bowl, didn’t see any of those big plays her son was making. I had to keep my head down and my eyes covered.

“I wasn’t watching because I was so nervous,” Gildes told FOX Sports this week, laughing as she spoke. “I know, isn’t that crazy? Every time I wasn’t looking, they did something really good on offense, and I’m superstitious, so I continued that trend throughout the second half.

“As if everything I do affects the game,” he continued. “I know it’s not like that, but I guess I’m just a psychopath.”

Cornerback Christian Gray, who was a member of Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class along with Greathouse, intercepted Penn State quarterback Drew Allar later in the fourth quarter. When the Fighting Irish got the ball back, Greathouse made a critical 10-yard catch on another third-and-3 to give kicker Mitch Jeter some extra yards before kicking a 41-yard field goal to win the game. Now, the Irish face favored Ohio State in the CFP National Championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

Leonard, who is in his first season at Notre Dame after transferring from Duke, has shown exceptional strength and toughness as a running back, which has been a staple of the Fighting Irish offense this year. While Notre Dame has one of the top 15 rushing attacks (averaging 210.8 yards per game), it actually has one of the worst passing attacks in the country, ranking 102nd nationally (194.3 YPG). . The team’s receiver-by-committee approach is one of the reasons no player before Greathouse had surpassed the 100-yard receiving mark.

To beat Ohio State, the passing game will have to be more effective. The Buckeyes defense plans to make it difficult for Leonard to get off the ground, whether on a designed run or a run, and force him to be one-dimensional. Still, he’ll need to look for reliable options like Greathouse, with whom he’s developed chemistry over the past year.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound wide receiver is capable of making key plays in a scenario like this. After all, he’s done it before.

Greathouse won three consecutive Texas high school state championships from 2019 to 2021 with Westlake in Austin. As a junior, Westlake beat Denton Guyer, 40-21, and Greathouse had seven receptions for a state-record 236 yards and three touchdowns en route to being named Offensive MVP.

Giles didn’t watch the entire game either. She and Greathouse’s younger sister, Riley, walked around AT&T Stadium to distract themselves. Before Westlake pulled away, the game was close, with Denton Guyer leading 14-13 at halftime. Greathouse then caught “definite big bombs,” as Westlake head coach Tony Salazar described it, from then-future Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik for touchdowns of 69 and 71 yards in the second half.

“We could hear cheering,” Giles said. “Once it was safe to start watching again, I did.”

Heading into Monday night’s national championship game, Greathouse looks to build on its outstanding performance in the Orange Bowl. And if Leonard can get him the ball, well, he’s never had a problem making plays. His mother’s favorite was his first catch for Notre Dame, which turned into a 35-yard touchdown in last year’s season opener against Navy in Ireland.

“I mean, you’re talking about a guy who was the MVP of the state championship on the biggest stage in Texas high school football, so he’s not afraid of that moment,” Salazar told FOX Sports. “I think he’s made for the moment. And I hope he can have another great game this week to help his team get to the top.

“I think he has the skills and the toughness to be able to do that, but it will be difficult. There will be tight windows, contested catches and [Ohio State is] It’s going to be really good, just like Notre Dame is going to be really good. “He’s a confident young man and I think that shows in the way he plays.”

Recalling what it was like to coach Greathouse in high school, Salazar quickly brought up the fact that he was the first freshman to make the varsity team in Salazar’s 11 years in the program.

The summer before Greathouse’s freshman year, he was the starting catcher on the Westlake 7-on-7 team that won the summer league championship. He proceeded to be a starter the next four years, was voted captain by his teammates his senior year, posted three straight wins, and was part of the program’s 54-game winning streak.

Salazar said Greathouse is the type of athlete who “practices how he plays, and that’s not a given in sports.” And what stood out to him most when Greathouse was in eighth grade was that he already had the necessary ball skills to contribute significantly.

“He can make those circus catches,” Salazar said. “He can catch over people, he can catch through people, he’s got a great frame, his legs are very well built, he’s got big shoulders. He’s just a physical specimen and he’s never dropped footballs. I can’t imagine a Great moment from Jaden Greathouse dropping that ball in any practice or game we’ve played. He has tremendous hands.

“Every time they threw it at him, you said, ‘This kid is different,'” Salazar added. “Every time you touch him, he’s scoring. He was probably more physically developed than most eighth graders. He had to be, playing as a freshman in Texas 6A high school football. Most Freshmen aren’t strong enough or big enough, and he was.”

Greathouse received some of those physical gifts from his parents, both college athletes. Giles, who coaches girls sports at Westlake, once served as his son’s high school basketball coach, but it was the first and last time. “I think we argued and it didn’t go well,” he said with a smile. Greathouse also has an uncle, Oscar Giles, who is currently the defensive line coach at Houston and spent much of his career on the Texas staff.

“He was raised by a coach and understands hard work, understands what it takes [are] “There are no shortcuts,” Salazar said. “He practices at full speed all the time and never says, ‘Hey, I’m going to wait until Friday to play the best I can.’ No, it was every day, and I think that’s why he is where he is now.”

Greathouse didn’t want to reveal too much, but he acknowledged that he had been working on the moves he used on those two Penn State defensive backs during that huge fourth-quarter drive.

“I’ll definitely take credit for falling for that,” Greathouse said, smiling. “It’s something I’m working on every day during the offseason, during the season, in practice, just working on different pitches and that kind of stuff. And throughout the game, I was working on different pitches and seeing what worked. against him, and I was able to take advantage.”

As the CFP title game approaches, Mom’s nerves return. Giles still isn’t sure if he’ll have to look away or keep his head down on Monday. But it will still be at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

As for Greathouse, that attitude of self-belief and “not being afraid of the moment” manifested itself again this week when he received a text from Westlake offensive coordinator Kirk Rogers, who used to coach the team’s wide receivers.

“Go get it, finish it,” the text message said.

Greathouse’s response: “You know that. We’ll leave it all out there and be the best team we can be.”

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Title IX. follow her on @LakenLitman.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]