Mike Brey has done it again. The Irish hoops program gained another commitment on Thursday afternoon in Pittsburgh-area combo guard Robby Carmody. The 6’4″, 200 pound Carmody joins Prentiss Hubb in Notre Dame’s 2018 recruiting class and transfer Juwan Durham as big additions to the Irish roster this offseason.

Carmody was Brey’s first offer in the 2018 class, and the Irish staff has been all over his recruitment ever since. Ryan Ayers, in particular, was the lead dog in this one and showed a lot of his own potential as a relentless and relatable recruiter. I also want to note the Penguins jersey that Brey is sporting in Carmody’s tweet, so it looks like the Irish staff struck all the right notes for the Pittsburgh product.

Notre Dame has long been thought to be the favorite for Carmody, and this week’s campus visit to South Bend finally sealed the deal. The Irish beat out finalists Purdue and Michigan, as well as local favorite Pittsburgh. Carmody has an impressive offer list, including the likes of Maryland, Syracuse, Louisville, Xavier, and plenty of others. At one point, Sean Miller of Arizona was getting heavily involved, but other commits luckily prevented him from ever offering.

Rankings

247 composite – 102nd overall, 4 star, 21st ranked SG, .95 rating

247 – 77th overall, 4 star, 15th ranked SG, 94 rating

ESPN – 74th overall, 4 star, 19th ranked SF, 84 rating

Rivals – 98th overall, 4 star, 48th ranked G

Scout – 95th overall, 4 star, 22nd ranked SG

Don’t ask me how his composite ranking is 102nd when all of component rankings are better than that.

Highlights

Some thoughts: Great leaper off two feet but not nearly as impressive off one foot, which is a much better indicator. Nice quick release, outstanding off the catch but delivery is a bit slow off the dribble. Impressive ability in midrange to rise and shoot cleanly in traffic. So-so handle and hardly ever gets by his man one-on-one. Creative finisher around the rim with both hands. Obviously intense and committed defender who will probably need to work on his footwork rather than just rely on his athleticism.

I’ll also add this. He has a bit of a reputation as a dirty player. A video emerged showing some apparent trips and nut-shots. I think we can all agree that, if it was intentional at all, that crap needs to stop. I don’t think Brey will stand for any of that and I wouldn’t be surprised if they already had a chat about it. It doesn’t worry me too much, but it’s already out there as part of his narrative.

Outlook

All of a sudden, the future back court for the Irish is looking pretty loaded. Carmody will step on campus joining senior Rex Pflueger, junior TJ Gibbs, sophomore DJ Harvey, and fellow freshman Prentiss Hubb. He will likely be fifth of five in that pecking order. This won’t necessarily preclude him from playing a role at all early, given that Brey is happy to play a three-guard lineup when his personnel calls for it. But it will probably be a modest role off the bench, perhaps maxing out with the role Pflueger played in his freshman year.

I will also add that I think Brey is still open to adding another guard to this class. Brey has hosted other guard targets very recently despite probably knowing that he was about to add Carmody. Add someone like Luther Muhammad (ND is the crystal ball favorite), and Carmody may be a redshirt candidate.

As the upperclassmen graduate, you can envision Carmody’s role slowly expanding, with a potential opportunity to start his junior year alongside Hubb and Harvey. Carmody looks like a very well-rounded player that can help the Irish on both ends of the floor. But he does seem to lack any elite traits that indicate he’s really going to develop into a star. Thinking about a potential Hubb-Harvey-Carmody-Djogo-Durham lineup, and Carmody looks like a feature perimeter defender but probably the fifth option offensively. This is not unlike Steve Vasturia during the magical 2014-2015 season. Which, hey, if the Irish are in that position again with their lineup, we’ll all be mighty happy with how things are going.

Whether he can develop into something more remains to be seen. But either way, Brey locked down what looks to be a fairly surefire 3-and-D guy for the future. Carmody looks to be a very valuable piece to what is hopefully a Final Four-worthy puzzle moving forward.