Robert Hainsey among 5 Notre Dame players with Pittsburgh ties set to return home

Robert Hainsey tells his story with pride, all about a 16-year-old embarking on a new adventure, more than 1,000 miles from home.

Yet, he says, “It wasn’t that hard.”

Hainsey was captain of the Gateway football team as a sophomore in 2016, and, remarkably, the Gators’ best player, according to his coach at the time, Tom Nola.

“Even though he was a lineman,” Nola said. “Usually, that goes to a skill person.”

But Hainsey sensed his career path veering in another direction, and he took a chance. He left Gateway after finishing 10th grade and enrolled at IMG Academy, a national football powerhouse in Bradenton, Fla.

“I always say that’s the second-best decision I’ve ever made,” he said.

The best?

“Coming to Notre Dame,” he said.

And that’s where Hainsey’s story turns back home, if only for 24 hours or so. Notre Dame, ranked No. 3 in the nation and unbeaten at 4-0, travels to Pittsburgh on Saturday to meet Pitt at Heinz Field.

Hainsey is one of five players with Western Pennsylvania roots — all weighing at least 295 pounds — who are part of Notre Dame’s 2020 roster. The list includes five of the best high school linemen to trample WPIAL turf in recent years.

• Hainsey (6-foot-5, 295 pounds) is in his third season as Notre Dame’s starting right tackle, an anchor who helps provide the push for the nation’s No. 7 rushing attack (261 yards per game). He left IMG as the No. 3 tackle in Florida, holding 26 scholarship offers.

• Nose tackle Kurt Hinish (6-2, 296) graduated from Central Catholic and became a two-year starter, with appearances in at least 12 games in each of his previous three seasons.

• Sophomore Andrew Kristofic (6-5, 292) backs up left tackle Liam Eichenberg. He was the No. 5 overall prospect in Pennsylvania when he left Pine-Richland in 2019.

• Freshman offensive lineman Michael Carmody (6-6, 295) earned 30 offers and was the state’s No. 2 prospect in the Class of 2020 while playing at Mars.

• North Allegheny’s Josh Lugg (6-7, 310), a senior who backs up Hainsey at right tackle. “Josh Lugg, as good as he is, he’s backing up over there, which is amazing,” said Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, who offered scholarships to all five players.

Notre Dame’s tradition was a big part of the attraction, Hainsey said.

“I think we were all just excited to get here and play for a team and a program that’s so special and has so much great history behind it,” he said. “You get guys who are committed to the school, to the program, to the people. That’s just the kind of guys we have.”

When he arrived at Notre Dame, Hainsey decided to major in finance. “I figured it would be a pretty competitive field,” he said.

That’s precisely the type of thinking that drove him to IMG.

“Gateway was a good school, a good program,” he said, “but it didn’t have what I felt I needed to be as successful as I wanted to be.

“IMG called, and I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go check it out with my parents.’ We did it. Not once did they tell me, ‘You should do this, you shouldn’t do this.’

“As a 16-year-old, that’s a big decision to make, and I just thought if I wanted to do everything that I felt I wanted to do and be this player I wanted to be, it was the right decision to make.

“I decided to move 18 hours away and didn’t really look back.”

Nola said Hainsey approached him well before the start of his junior season. “A good, young man who came forward,” Nola said.

The veteran coach, now retired, just listened.

“Their minds were already made up, so I couldn’t offer an opinion,” he said.

“It turned out to be a good thing for him. They did set him in the right direction because they concentrate on one thing, offensive line, and he became really good.

“His parents, especially his dad, wanted him to concentrate on one side of the ball. For us, because he was our best player, he had to play both sides.

“By concentrating on (offense), he became even better than he was. Now, he’s going to be picked by the NFL as an offensive lineman.”

Hainsey, Hinish, Lugg and Central Catholic linebacker David Adams were part of Notre Dame’s 2017 recruiting class that was ranked No. 13 in the nation by Rivals.com. (Adams’ collegiate career was ended prematurely by injury.)

“We just had a special group of guys,” Hinish said. “A lot of us came on recruiting visits together.”

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly calls Hinish “a high IQ guy.”

“He knows what they’re trying to do scheme-wise and can defeat that scheme in front of him.”

Playing Pitt on Heinz Field turf means a lot to Hinish, who played in WPIAL championship games there with Central Catholic teammates and Pitt players Damar Hamlin, Cal Adomitis and John Petrishen.

“I love those guys,” he said. “We were all really good friends in high school.”

The bonds remain today. Hinish said he played paintball with Hamlin and Pitt safety Paris Ford during quarantine

Hamlin said he and Hinish teamed up to defeat Ford’s team. “Hinish was a good teammate at paintball,” he said.

Just like he was at Central, right? “For sure, always. You know that,” Hamlin added.

Camaraderie and good will disappear Saturday, but only temporarily.

“It’s competition, but it’s friendly competition,” Hinish said. “Once we step on the field, we mean business.”

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