After back to back season ending injuries it's safe to say that the start of Robby Carmody's Notre Dame career has not gone the way he, or anyone else, had hoped. A few years ago, Carmody came to Notre Dame in arguably the best ever recruiting class under Mike Brey, which included 247 Sports top 100 recruits Nate Laszewski, Dane Goodwin , and Prentiss Hubb, along with three star Chris Doherty who has since transferred. In 2019-2020 Carmody averaged 5.4 PPG with a high of 13 points against Robert Morris in his 7 games before tearing his ACL against Maryland at the end of a blowout.
As for the 2019-2020 season, Carmody will have a big role (most likely as the 6th man) if he is healthy enough to fill it. The big question surrounding Carmody this year has to be "is he healthy?". This is a super valid question considering the Mars, PA native has only played 16 games at the college level and is coming off of an ACL tear. As Notre Dame fans, we should be very familiar with how an ACL tear can effect a player because of how Rex Pflueger came back and wasn't nearly the same. In fact, he told us in our recent interview that he was at "80-85% of my true capabilities." This year you could see something similar with Carmody. Its also very possible Carmody could miss time at the start of the season (assuming the season starts on time). All things considered it's gonna be pretty difficult for Carmody to return to form immediately or maybe even at all this season. But, when you look past the short term, that's where things get really exciting for Carmody.
While we need to be cautious when making predictions about Carmody given his injury history, he has a higher ceiling than nearly anyone on the current team and there is still a ton to be excited about. The rising junior is considered by many (including myself) to have been the missing piece on the 2019-2020 team which often lived and died by the three ball. Before his injury this season, Carmody was able to attack the basket better than anybody on the Notre Dame roster, which they missed terribly in games like the second Florida State game where they shot extremely well in the first 30 minutes of the game but faded down the stretch and couldn't get to the basket. Outside of his unique skill-set, one of the things that makes Carmody so interesting is that he still has 4 years of eligibility ahead of him. Assuming he uses both of his extra years of eligibility he would be 24 years old at the end of his Notre Dame career which is even older than Rex Pflueger is.
If Carmody is able to stay healthy for the next few years, and returns to being the player we saw go toe to toe with high school phenoms such as Zion Williamson and Jordan McCabe, there is a ton to be excited about. The combination of his unique skill-set and remaining eligibility could make him super valuable to the program in the near future. If he can return to form, it may not be that far fetched to say that he could have the best career out of anybody in the 2018 class.
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