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Notre Dame receiver's cocky claim challenges perceived improvement by Aggies ahead of South Bend showdown

Texas A&M may just have gotten a little bit of bulletin board material headed into this game.
ByGraham Harmon|
Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Jaden Greathouse (1) celebrates a touchdown with teammate Kris Mitchell (10) against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Jaden Greathouse (1) celebrates a touchdown with teammate Kris Mitchell (10) against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Texas A&M football looks very much like a team that has improved their pass defense in the early part of this year, but one Notre Dame receiver is apparently a little dubious of that notion.

The Aggies had real concern about their secondary at the end of last year, as would any supporter of A&M that was watching. Time after time down the stretch, the Aggies would get picked on down the field— by Cam Coleman against Auburn and Ja'Kobi Lane for the USC Trojans in the bowl game.

The addition of Lyle Hemphill as a defensive coach focused on the secondary, as well as Mike Elko taking charge of the defense, gave the Aggie fanbase a lot of hope that they would see some much-improved pass defense in the upcoming year. So far, that's been borne out: the Aggies are allowing only 5.3 yards per attempt on average so far, and have given up no downfield passing plays.

However, in the leadup to this game, it appears that the Notre Dame receiver room— or, at least, one receiver in particular— is a little skeptical of what the Aggies can do.

Jaden Greathouse: Aggie secondary "shouldn't be anything that we can't handle"

One of the premier receivers for Notre Dame, Jaden Greathouse out of Westlake High School in Austin, had this to say about the Aggie secondary:

It's usually not a good idea to give an opposing team this kind of bulletin board material ahead of a big game like this, but Greathouse went ahead and said what he said. He obviously feels confident that the pass game for the Irish can overcome this secondary— which is sort of a bold position at this point, given that Notre Dame didn't really push the ball downfield to receivers in game one, and the Aggies have been recording stats like this:

Will Lee will likely be tasked with covering Greathouse on Saturday, but don't be surprised if Ricks covers him for a few snaps as well. We'll get a chance to see just how improved this A&M secondary is in this game— it may not be the most intimidating passing attack that they'll face this year, but if they don't shut things down, they could be in for a long year.

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