Notre Dame coach Mike Brey’s excitement over Robby Carmody’s impending return from injury stemmed from the intrigue of the unknown. Carmody, a junior guard and former top-100 recruit, had played in just 16 games his first two years due to a pair of season-ending injuries.
“We really haven’t seen him,” Brey told BlueandGold.com in July. “We’ve only seen bits and pieces.”
He now has to wait longer for that viewing.
Carmody has suffered the third major injury of his college career, this one a broken kneecap, a source confirmed to BlueandGold.com. He will undergo surgery Tuesday. The exact timeline won’t be known until after the surgery is complete, but he’s expected to be sidelined until sometime in December. How the injury occurred is not clear.
The 6-4, 200-pound Carmody was recovering from a torn left ACL sustained last December in a loss at Maryland and was expected to be ready for the start of the season. He played in seven games prior to injury, averaging 5.4 points in 13.7 minutes per game. He scored a career-high 13 points Nov. 9 against Robert Morris. He did not play in a Nov. 18 win over Presbyterian after he was concussed three days earlier vs. Marshall.
Carmody’s freshman season ended when he suffered a partial labrum tear in his left shoulder nine games into his career. He was averaging 3.7 points in 10 minutes per game. He started his first career game, the first Notre Dame freshman to do so in 16 years.
Prior to his latest injury, Brey hoped Carmody could slide into a sixth man role as the first guard off the bench behind fellow juniors Prentiss Hubb, Cormac Ryan and Dane Goodwin.
“He could really be a key guy for us,” Brey said. “I know he’s hungry. He was knocked back on his heels to miss a second year. You know he’s a physically tough kid. Sometimes he’s too tough. That’s why he gets himself hurt. I don’t need him diving into the chairs in practice every possession. I know he will do that in a game. I told him that last year. I said, ‘Robby, you don’t need to show me you’re going to hustle. Pick your spots.’”
Until Carmody returns and tries to stake a belated claim to that role, Notre Dame will have nine available scholarship players. Santa Clara transfer Trey Wertz is on scholarship but sitting out this year due to NCAA rules.
Carmody is academically classified as a junior, but a redshirt sophomore athletically. The Mars (Pa.) native was Rivals’ No. 91 player in the 2018 class. He played for his father, Rob, at Mars Area High School, where he scored 2,390 career points and grabbed 1,216 rebounds.
As a high school senior, Carmody was named the Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year. He averaged 31.1 points, 14.1 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 1.6 blocks. He led Mars Area to the 2018 Class 5A WPIAL title and the Pennsylvania 5A state title game, where it lost 67-55 to Abington Heights High School.
Carmody’s brother, Michael, is a freshman offensive lineman on Notre Dame’s football team.
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