Hawaii Linebacker Josiah Kia Set For Important Notre Dame Visit

The trip from Hawaii to South Bend, Indiana isn’t the easiest to make. On Friday, 2025 Honolulu (Hawaii) Punahou linebacker Josiah "Ko’o" Kia and his family will be making the trip out to Notre Dame. Part of the visit will be to help Josiah’s older brother Kahanu Kia get settled back into student life in South Bend. Kahanu was a linebacker signee in the 2022 class for the Irish, but has served a LDS mission the last two years.

The younger Kia will also be taking in the experience as a recruit, sitting as one of the key linebacker targets in the 2025 recruiting class for the Irish. Kia is excited to be able to experience everything over the long weekend.

"I’m very excited for this visit,” Kia told Irish Breakdown. "I want to go on this visit and learn as much as I possibly can about the school and the football program. I want to leave feeling like I got everything I could've gotten out of this trip.”

For several months, the Notre Dame coaches have been prioritizing and pushing for Kia. He has gotten a chance to develop deeper relationships with several of the staff members.

"Things have been great (with Notre Dame),” he explained. "I’ve been in great contact with the staff. I love talking to Coach (Marty) Biagi, Coach (Max) Bullough, Coach (Al) Golden and Coach (Marcus) Freeman. I really like the conversations. You can tell they really know what they’re doing in building this program as well as on the field.”

If things go well this weekend, there is a realistic chance that there could be two Kias suiting up in the blue and gold during the 2025 season. The 6-2, 210-pound defender is excited to help his older brother get settled. He is ready to get back to the life of a student athlete.

"We’re all very excited about Kahanu going back to Notre Dame,” Kia stated. "Serving a mission was one of his lifelong goals and now that he’s completed it we can’t wait to see him get back out on the field.”

It feels like this recruitment is heading down the home stretch. Although Kia is not necessarily rushing a decision, Notre Dame should be viewed as the clear leader for him currently. It is the program’s pitch that has really stuck with him, and put the program high on his list.

"The main pitch has been that Notre Dame has everything you want and that if you go to Notre Dame you will be set up not only for your athletic career but for the rest of your life,” Kia said. "I would like to go into my senior year committed but there is no precise timeline for a commitment. Notre Dame is definitely near the top for me.”

Kia is coming off of a tremendous junior campaign for Punahou. Used all over the field, he recorded 73 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, eight sacks, seven pass breakups, three forced fumbles and an interception that he returned for a touchdown. Kia currently holds offers from the Irish, Texas, USC, Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, Utah, Michigan State, Washington State, Arizona, BYU, Arizona State, Cal and Vanderbilt among others.

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