Former Notre Dame guard Robby Carmody announces transfer to Mercer

Former Notre Dame guard Robby Carmody has hopped out of the transfer portal and to his next destination. He is reuniting with a familiar face from his original recruitment.

Carmody, who entered the portal March 13, announced Monday he is transferring to Mercer as a graduate. He has one season of eligibility left, but missing multiple years due to injury should give him a strong case for a medical waiver that would allow him to play in 2024-25. The 2023-24 season will be his sixth in college.

Mercer – located in Macon, Ga. – is far from Notre Dame and far from Carmody’s hometown of Mars, Pa. Bears head coach Greg Gary, though, was an assistant at Purdue when Carmody was a high school prospect. Carmody took multiple visits to Purdue, including an official in 2017, and chose Notre Dame over the Boilermakers.

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The 6-foot-4 Carmody spent five years at Notre Dame, most of them marred by injury. He arrived, though, as a top-100 prospect and the reigning Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year. He had big goals. He immediately took a step toward achieving them when he became the first Notre Dame true freshman to start a season opener since Torin Francis in 2002.

Carmody started two of the nine games he played in 2018-19, averaging 3.7 points in 10 minutes per outing. His season ended due to a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He returned for his sophomore season, but suffered a torn ACL seven games in. He averaged 5.4 points and 1.6 rebounds that year. A fractured kneecap in 2020-21 preseason practice cost him his entire junior campaign.

That third injury evoked the idea that Carmody might not ever find his way back on track, or play in a game again.

“We’re still slowly bringing him along,” then-head coach Mike Brey said after the first preseason practice of 2021. “The reality with Robby Carmody is it two weeks? Is it a month? Is it maybe never? That’s the reality. I give him a lot of credit. He has physically fought through this bad luck he’s had.

“We’re hoping we can get him back, but there’s no pressure on him to sprint back.”

Carmody did return for one game. He was on the floor for the final six seconds of 2022 Senior Day. He came back for a fifth year and played in six games this past season, totaling 19 minutes. He had 2 rebounds, 1 point and even played in the first half of a game.

Modest stat totals, all told. But success for Carmody after three straight serious injuries – and enough to find another home.

“To the outside world, my time at Notre Dame has been marked by injuries and questions of what if,” Carmody wrote in a statement. “However, to those who know me best, my time at ND has marked by resiliency and questions of what will be. I want to thank the coaches, managers and my teammates for letting me fight with them these last 5 years. I wouldn’t have changed a second of it.”

Carmody is one of four Notre Dame players to enter the portal since the Irish’s season and Brey’s run as head coach ended March 7. Freshman guard JJ Starling and freshman forward Dom Campbell joined him on March 13. Grad student guard Cormac Ryan followed suit later in March and also declared for the NBA Draft. Starling has committed to Syracuse. Campbell announced he will play at Howard next year.

Notre Dame hired former Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry as Brey’s replacement. As it stands, the Irish have five scholarship players on the 2023-24 roster.

Carmody’s younger brother, Michael, is a senior offensive tackle on the Notre Dame football team.