Hainsey Staying Course In Comeback
Robert Hainsey was the ballcarrier.
By design.
On a reverse.
And he was off. Until he wasn’t.
Then a fullback in a youth league game in his native Pennsylvania, Hainsey had gathered the exchange on the deception and turned upfield.
Splat.
“I was in third grade, and I was playing on AstroTurf and I was fullback and it was a reverse, and I got the reverse, and I landed right on my knee,” Hainsey told IrishSportsDaily. “And I fractured my kneecap and tore my patella tendon.
“And the next day, I was running around like a kid and playing with all my friends and I was just like, ‘Ah, my knee hurts.’ But the next day, I woke up and it was Sunday morning and I tried to get out of bed and my leg wouldn’t bend. And I just yelled for my mom, we went to the emergency room, and my dad was not happy about it and yeah, so then I missed the playoffs that year in third grade.”
That was approximately a dozen years ago, and since that time, Hainsey had not missed a football game due to injury until Notre Dame’s junior right tackle suffered a broken bone in his leg in the Irish’s come-from-behind win November 2 against visiting Virginia Tech.
“Nothing like this. Bumps and bruises, nothing like this,” Hainsey said. “This is the first one actually missing games for an injury. You know, it is what it is and I have a lot of time left to improve and get better.
“I can’t wait to get back out there.”
The 6-foot-4-3/8-inch, 295-pound Hainsey will return to the field in the spring as the elder statesman of the Irish line, with 34 career games, and as their top-honored offensive lineman, having claimed the honor at last week’s Echoes ’19 awards ceremony.
Despite his absence, Hainsey still is a contributing member in the offensive meeting rooms. In fact, teaming with fellow injured right anchor Tommy Kraemer, the duo forms something of an in-season peer coaching tandem.
“They do a phenomenal job on Sundays,” sophomore center Jarrett Patterson said of the Hainsey-Kraemer impact. “We go in and watch the film by ourselves, and they give great pointers and great things we should work on during the week for that opponent. And overall, they coach us hard.
“If they see something, they want you to fix it and they tell you, they see something in practice or in a drill and they tell you, redo that drill. Do it again. So far it’s been paying off for us. I feel like we finished the season strong and that’s what matters. Now we’ve got to finish in the bowl game.”
When Hainsey and Kraemer aren’t helping Notre Dame’s cobbled-together line, they’re focusing on their processes to return to action.
“Me and Tommy had each other, because he was going through the same thing,” Hainsey said. “Honestly, it happened and I was upset, but it’s just kind of how it goes. The injury-rate is 100-percent when you play the sport at this level. It happens to everyone, you’ve just got to go through it and roll with the punches. I think for me, it’s just, ‘Hey, OK. This is where I’m at now. What am I going to do today to get better?’ The next day I wake up, ‘What am I going to do today to get better, make this go as fast as possible?’”
That’s the mindset Hainsey is carrying with him into 2020.
“I just want to improve every day, no matter what,” he said. “I don’t think this (injury) changed much; I got to play a lot of games this year. I was happy with the way I played at times and not happy with the way I played at times.
“Those are going to be things I look at, things I look to improve and coming out ready to play my best football next year.”
Rather than reversing, you see, Hainsey merely is staying the course.