Notre Dame signs LB Ko'o Kia, brother of Irish sophomore LB Kahanu Kia
The Notre Dame football program has added the younger brother of sophomore linebacker Kahanu Kia to its roster. On Wednesday, the Fighting Irish officially announced the signing of Honolulu Punahou three-star linebacker Ko’o Kia.
According to the On3 Industry Ranking — a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services — the younger Kia is the No. 2 prospect in Hawai’i, the No. 57 linebacker nationally and the No. 514 overall player in the 2025 class.
On3 is much higher than 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals on Kia, ranking him as the No. 38 linebacker in the country.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Kia verbally committed to Notre Dame in January during his first unofficial recruiting visit to campus. During that trip, he also helped Kahanu move back into South Bend after he had spent the previous two years away from the program on a church mission trip. The elder Kia has not played this season due to a torn ACL suffered during the summer.
Ko’o has no immediate plans to go on a church mission trip; he will enroll with the Irish in June.
A look at Notre Dame 2025 LB signee Ko’o Kia’s recruitment
Before pledging to Notre Dame, Kia reported scholarship offers from Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, California, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Southern Cal, Texas, Utah, Vanderbilt and Washington. The only opposing recruiting visit he recorded was to Hawai’i.
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Former Irish graduate assistant linebackers coach James Laurinaitis and special teams coordinator Brian Mason offered Kia on Jan. 17, 2023. He then went on to have 83 tackles, 17 stops for loss, 8 sacks, 7 pass breakups, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and 1 interception in 13 games.
As a senior, he posted 96 tackles, 16 for loss, 2 sacks, 5 pass breakups and 2 forced fumbles in 9 games. According to Punahou coach Nate Kia, Ko’o’s father who played at Utah in the 1990s, the Irish signee projects as a versatile linebacker who could thrive in any defensive system.
“Whatever the defense needs,” he said. “That’s something that I think now, with the modern linebackers and the way the game is played, the more versatile you are, the more opportunities you have to play and the more valuable you can be on the field.
“For him, that’s definitely a strength of his, that he can fit pretty much any system.”
Kia is the eighth recruit from the Aloha State to sign with the Irish during the internet recruiting era, which dates back to 2002. He joins Kahanu Kia, defensive linemen Jordan Botelho, Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Kona Schwenke, linebackers Marist Liufau and Manti Te’o and wide receiver Robby Toma.
Kahanu, Liufau, Te’o and Toma are all Punahou products.
