SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Kahanu Kia couldn’t be much more disconnected than he was during his two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Kia, a 6-foot-2, 219-pound linebacker, returned to Notre Dame last month for the first time since December 2021, when he finished up his freshman season with the Irish. But he found that not much has changed around campus.
“The magic’s still in the air every time I’m walking to class,” Kia said.
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And that’s not just because of the unseasonably warm weather in South Bend this week. Kia is back where he always planned to be when he committed to the Irish as a three-star recruit out of Honolulu’s Punahou School.
But Kia couldn’t really monitor the ongoings of Notre Dame football very often while serving as a missionary. The missionary program, which sent him the Raleigh, N.C., area in February 2022, prohibits the use of social media, TV and other forms of entertainment and limits communication with family members to once a week.
And yet Kia always knew he’d find himself back at Notre Dame playing for head coach Marcus Freeman when his mission ended.
“There was no doubt for me,” Kia said. “I love this place so much. It was hard to leave. I knew it was something I wanted to do. I had prayed about it. I felt strongly that I wanted to go, but I love this place so much.
“Leaving was difficult. So there was no way I wasn’t going to come back and finish what I started and also be a part of what they’re building with Coach Free and all that.”
Kia has been working hard in the last month to build himself back into the football player he was when he left Notre Dame originally. He played in eight games, mostly on special teams, and totaled seven tackles.
“I loved my one year with Kahanu,” Freeman said in December. “He played linebacker for part of the year and moved to vyper part of the year. To get him back in this program — the energy, the production, the physicality that he plays with. I’m excited to see.”
Kia wasn’t allowed to have access to a gym while on his mission in North Carolina, so he had to rely on a lot of in-home workouts and find other ways to stay in shape. When he returned home to Hawaii to finish his mission, he was able to do more complete workouts to ease his transition back to Notre Dame.
“I knew what I signed up for,” Kia said. ‘I knew I wasn’t going to be in tip-top shape. But that’s why I’m trying to hit it hard right now and get back into doing what I need to do.”
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Defensive coordinator Al Golden has Kia training to be a linebacker for the 2024 season. He split time between linebacker and vyper end as a freshman, but Notre Dame’s depth chart is a little thinner at linebacker and that’s a more natural position for him.
While Kia was on his mission, Notre Dame continued to recruit Kia’s younger brother, Ko’o Kia, as a three-star linebacker prospect. Ko’o made his recruiting visit to Notre Dame in early January when Kahanu was moving back onto campus. Ko’o ended the trip with a commitment to Notre Dame’s top-ranked 2025 recruiting class.
“It was so awesome,” Kahanu said. “It’s one of those things you dream about where you’re like, ‘Ahh, that’s never going to happen.’ So to see that happen was a blessing. I couldn’t be more happy for him and for my parents. I know they’re super excited.”
Ko’o, listed at 6-2, 220, grew quite a bit while Kahanu was away from home.
“When I first saw him, he was so long and tall and almost unrecognizable,” Kahanu said. “He’s definitely gotten bigger since. He got super long. His arms were just like, ‘What the heck?’ I wish I had that.”
Kahanu grew in different ways during his time away from Notre Dame.
“A lot of times missionaries will say it’s the best two years. It certainly was that,” Kahanu said. “But it also was a challenge. You go through hard things. You’re stretched mentally, spiritually, emotionally. From there you can grow.
“I know I grew for sure in the person that I am and the things that I believe, things that pertain to football and things that pertain just to life. It’s only been a month since I finished, but I’ve already seen the ways that I ‘ve changed. I’m so grateful for it.”
Kahanu said he’s not quite sure that Freeman and others who allowed him to make this mission trip during his college career will truly understand the impact it made on his life. He spoke to so many people about his faith and in turn listened closely as they shared their life experiences.
Now he’s back at Notre Dame carrying all of that with him.
“You definitely gain an appreciation for life when see you others go through hard things” Kahanu said. “One of the things that I gained from my mission is a deep sense of gratitude for the life and for the opportunities that I have.
“Coming back here, it’s like, man, I have to make the most of this. It’s one of those ways that I feel like my mission has benefitted me so much.”
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