Notre Dame football loses potential star LB for 2024 season

The Notre Dame football team got mostly good news on the injury front on Wednesday. The return of Benjamin Morrison and Mitchell Evans and Kevin Bauman should have had Irish fans popping champagne bottles.

There was some bad news as well. It turns out linebacker Kahanu Kia is out for the season with a torn ACL. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman announced the injury during his Wednesday press conference. 

It’s an especially big bummer that Kia is the one who now has to sit out the season. The linebacker, who lasted played for Notre Dame football in 2021 had been on his mission. He returned this spring and was looking quite good when he played.

Notre Dame football linebacker out for the season with ACL tear

A Kaneohe, Hawaii, native, Kia had a four-tackle game against Navy during his most extensive collegiate action.

He had been expected to battle for a backup-role on the Irish defense and had a chance to appear on some special teams units after Kia returned this past spring.

However, it’s also possible that his talent could have gotten him further up the depth chart once he got back in the swing of things. 

Now, he’ll have to wait until 2025 in order to show the Notre Dame football team what he can do. If there is a silver lining here, it would be that at least he was injured early enough that he should be back by fall camp next year, should everything go right in his recovery.