I've started a new playthrough of new vegas and was trying to figure out if there were any lesser known unique follower mods or if anyone had a personal favorite they would like to share. Personally, I cant start a playthrough without Russell as I feel most someguy mods are needed for fnv and he is one of the greatest followers.

There ARES Project is a less popular companion mod that I've really enjoyed. It's more adult oriented than other mods, but I really enjoyed it. Here's a link to the nexus.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/48621

Thanks its sound like a interesting mod.

You're very welcome, hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

As for me, Nick Valentine from Tank-Girl and Drabody is pretty good, fits completely into the style of FNV. And there is a quest
He is in open access to the GNW: https://www.gunetwork.org/t18524-tank-girl-and-drabodys-nick-valentine-mod

Famous story teller: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/58473

I like traveling mostly with some animals, dogs for example: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/41714/?

About Willey and the Ninth, I am silent)
You can also see the work in the section "followers", there are many very high-quality followers that are not on other resources.