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Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive end Kahanu Kia announced on Monday that he will be leaving to take on a two-year mission trip. Kia is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS / Mormon) and stated that this was an option he had already spoken with Notre Dame about during his recruitment.
— Kahanu Kia (@KahanuKia) January 10, 2022
The only other Notre Dame football scholarship player on record that left the program for an LDS mission was safety, Chris Badger, back in 2010. In Badger’s case, he went abroad rather than in the states and elected to transfer to BYU.
Kia really started to come on towards the middle of the year with great special teams play. Initially, Kia was going to be a linebacker but transitioned to Vyper to help add some depth there.
No one can predict what will happen in two years, so Kia’s word is what we should go on at the moment — he’ll be back.
2022 Notre Dame Football Scholarship Chart
| Position / Year | Freshmen | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | 5th/6th Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position / Year | Freshmen | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | 5th/6th Year |
| Quarterback | Steve Angeli | Tyler Buchner, Ron Powlus III | Drew Pyne | - | - |
| Running Back | Jadarian Price, Gi'Bran Payne | Logan Diggs, Audric Estime | Chris Tyree | - | - |
| Tight End | Eli Raridon, Holden Staes | Cane Berrong, Mitchell Evans | Michael Mayer, Kevin Bauman | - | - |
| Wide Receiver | Tobias Merriweather | Lorenzo Styles, Deion Colzie, Jayden Thomas | - | - | Braden Lenzy, Joe Wilkins, Avery Davis, Matt Salerno |
| Center | Ashton Craig | Pat Coogan | - | Zeke Correll | Jarrett Patterson |
| Guard | Billy Schrauth | Rocco Spindler | - | Andrew Kristofic, | Josh Lugg |
| Tackle | Joey Tanona, Ty Chan, Aamil Wagner | Blake Fisher, Joe Alt, Caleb Johnson | Michael Carmody, Tosh Baker | - | - |
| Defensive Tackle | Donovan Hinish, Tyson Ford | Gabriel Rubio | Aidan Keanaaina, Rylie Mills | Howard Cross, Jacob Lacey | Jayson Ademilola, Chris Smith |
| Defensive End | Aiden Gobaira | Jason Onye, Will Schweitzer | Alexander Ehrensberger, Jordan Botelho | NaNa Osafo-Mensah, Isaiah Foskey, Osita Ekwonu | Justin Ademilola |
| Linebacker | Nolan Ziegler, Joshua Burnham, Junior Tuihalamaka, Jaylen Sneed | Prince Kollie | - | Jack Kiser, Marist Liufau, JD Bertrand | Bo Bauer |
| Safety | Jayden Bellamy | Justin Walters | Xavier Watts, Ramon Henderson, Brandon Joesph | - | D.J. Brown, Houston Griffith |
| Cornerback | Jayden Mickey, Benjamin Morrison | Ryan Barnes, Chance Tucker, Philip Riley | Clarence Lewis | Cam Hart | TaRiq Bracy |
| Specialists | Bryce McFerson (P) | Josh Bryan (K) | Alex Peitsch (LS) | - | Michael Vinson (LS), Blake Grupe (K) |
| Totals | 22/85 (22) | 45/85 (23) | 60/85 (15) | 71/85 (11) | 86/85 (15) |