When sophomore vyper end Kahanu Kia returned to Notre Dame's campus this weekend after serving his two-year mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Notre Dame football program didn't only get a boost to its current roster.
The Irish also got an opportunity to put on a recruiting display for Kia's brother, 2025 linebacker target Josiah "Ko'o" Kia, who used Kahanu's return as an opportunity to take an unofficial visit to the Irish. That visit resulted in a commitment to the Irish on Monday night.
Ko'o, who holds 18 total offers, including California, Hawaii, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, USC and Utah, knew this recruiting trip would be different than his only other campus visit — a trip to Hawaii in April 2023 — when he saw the weather during his descent into South Bend.
"We came down, landed and it was real snowy," Ko'o told Inside ND Sports. "It was really cold. That was new to me being from Hawaii. But throughout the visit, I had a really great time ... had a lot of fun. I got to meet with all the coaches that I would be working with ... I got to see all the facilities and everything."
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During his visit, Ko'o spent his first real time in the snow when he posed for a photoshoot orchestrated by Notre Dame's media staff inside Notre Dame Stadium. He said reality set in during this moment and he realized he was getting closer to fulfilling his dream.
"It was crazy. I was putting on the gold helmet and I was out there on the field and it was pretty much my first time being in snow, at least not like that," Ko'o said. "It was really cool. It was awesome."
Per Rivals, Ko'o is a three-star linebacker and the No. 3 player in Hawaii. He attends Honolulu Punahou, the same school that produced former Irish linebacker Marist Liufau, who signed with Notre Dame as a three-star in the 2019 class. Ko'o's father, Nate Kia, is Punahou's head football coach.
Ko'o used his unofficial visit to tour the athletic facilities and meet the coaches, including head coach Marcus Freeman, who extended an offer to the 6-foot-2, 220-pound defender in January 2023. One of the coaches Ko'o spent an extended period with defensive graduate assistant Max Bullough, who played at Michigan State from 2010-13 and oversees the Irish linebackers closely for defensive coordinator Al Golden.
"I just had a lot of fun being with him because it was just straight ball," Ko'o said. "We were just talking football. I definitely soaked up and learned a lot. And I can tell he has a lot to give in terms of football knowledge and things like that."
Rivals hasn't assigned a national or positional ranking to Ko'o yet. In his last two seasons, Ko'o has added roughly 30-40 pounds and gained experience playing off-ball outside linebacker, traditional outside linebacker and edge rusher. As a senior, Ko'o said he expects to move inside and play middle linebacker for Punahou.
"For an outside linebacker, Kia can do both things asked of him really well," Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney said. "He can blitz off the edge and he's also super comfortable dropping in coverage, defending the pass or coming up and making a play on the ball. He causes a lot of problems off the edge because he's agile and physical but a lot of his sacks are coming off quarterbacks holding onto the ball way too long. I love his versatility and his physical nature and so he's someone who could keep climbing up the rankings the more we see him."
At the college level, Ko'o envisions himself filling whatever role coaches ask of him while also bringing an ability to compete at other positions.
"One thing they said they liked is my versatility," Ko'o said. "I think they plan on having me as an inside backer. I think it's good for me to be able to play all over. That will just help me get on the field as quick as possible wherever I end up."
Beyond football, Ko'o said used the visit to learn about Notre Dame's campus layout and academics, including hearing the 4-for-40 message directly from director of recruiting Chad Bowden.
"That's something that is very important to me," Ko'o said. "I got to talk to coach Bowden about it. He showed me all about it. I knew that Notre Dame was, you know, a real prestigious school but after sitting down and talking to him about it, I really realized how great of an opportunity it is and what that network is really like."
Notre Dame has a track record of landing talent out of Hawaii dating back to linebacker Manti Te'o and more recently with Liufau, Kahanu and vyper end Jordan Botelho.
With Ko'o's commitment, Notre Dame's 2025 class now sits at 14 commitments and holds a 1,612-point total from Rivals, the highest in the nation. Ko'o is the first linebacker to join the Irish class with current four-star linebacker commit Dominik Hulak expected to primarily fill the vyper end position at the next level. Freeman, Golden and defensive line coach Al Washington have already landed seven commitments from recruits who project as front-seven players in college.
Heading into Notre Dame's junior day on Jan. 20, the Irish have secured three commitments this month in the 2025 class: Ko'o, four-star defensive end Christopher Burgess Jr. and four-star safety Ethan Long. After Ko'o's commitment, the Irish are projected to build out their linebacker haul in the 2025 class by pursuing four-star targets Anthony Sacca, Christian Jones, Noah Mikhail, Madden Faraimo and Marco Jones.
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