How two Notre Dame football commits performed in their senior season debuts
Two Notre Dame football’s 2025 class commits started their senior seasons early. While most of the Fighting Irish’s recruiting class kicks off the 2024 campaign this week, wide receiver Jerome Bettis Jr. and linebacker Ko’o Kia and their high schools already have games in the books.
Each week during this high school football season, Blue & Gold will report on how each Notre Dame commit and their teams perform during the 2024 football season. The format will look different than this week’s report. But since Kia and Bettis already played games, I wanted to detail their performances.
Here is how Bettis and Kia performed at the start of their senior seasons.
Jerome Bettis Jr. — College Park (Ga.) Woodward Academy 14, Carrollton (Ga.) High 24
Bettis, a three-star, and the Woodward Academy War Eagles opened the 2024 season at home against Carrollton (Ga.) High and prized Southern Cal quarterback commit Julian “JuJu” Lewis on ESPN2.
Bettis, the On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 131 overall player and No. 91 prospect in Georgia, did not record any offensive statistics in the 10-point loss. However, the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder did finish third on the team with 8 tackles, 4 of which were solo.
Lewis accounted for all three of Carrollton’s touchdowns, completing 9-15 passes for 126 yards and 3 scores. The Carrollton defense held Navy quarterback commit Landon Walker to 10-22 for 109 yards. However, two of his completions ended up as touchdowns.
MaxPreps does not reflect target statistics. So, it is unclear if Bettis had any targets.
Woodward Academy (0-1), the No. 39 team in On3’s Georgia High School Football Rankings, faces the No. 10 team in the state, Suwanee (Ga.) Collins Hill (1-0), on Friday night.
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Ko’o Kia — Aug. 10: Honolulu Punahou 35, Kealakekua (Hawai’i) High 0 | Aug. 16: Punahou 7, Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon 30
Kia, a three-star linebacker, and the Buff n’ Blue defense had an impressive outing to kick off the 2024 season. On Aug. 10, they pitched a shutout, and Kia dominated with 12 tackles, 4 for loss and 3 pass breakups.
Aug. 16 against Sierra Canyon was a much tougher test.
Punahou’s opponent featured Utah three-star quarterback commit Wyatt Becker and several other top recruits. One of them was three-star offensive tackle Ashdon Wnetrzak. The 6-8, 345-pound Wnetrzak is the No. 88 offensive tackle in the country and the No. 105 prospect in California in the 2025 class.
Despite the 23-point loss, Kia still shined with 9 tackles and 2 TFLs. The No. 52 linebacker in the nation and No. 2 recruit in Hawai’i, Kia, is up to 21 tackles and 6 TFLs through two games.
On Saturday, Punahou (1-1), the No. 3 team in the state, faces Ewa Beach (Hawai’i) James Campbell (1-0), who ranks No. 4.
