Coach | 2026 Notre Dame DL Target Tiki Hola Mature Beyond His Years

According to his head coach, Tiki Hola’s recruitment has been a reflection of who he is as a person.

“Tiki is an extremely mature individual who has a high level of discernment,” Hola’s head coach at Bastrop High School, Jake Griedl, says of the 2026 Texas defensive lineman.

“Through this entire process of recruiting, he's been blessed to really be able to see what's been genuine and what hasn't, which is obviously why I think Notre Dame's in his final three as well as the other schools.”

Hola narrowed a lengthy list of scholarship offers to Notre Dame, USC and SMU last month and is scheduled to choose between the three next month. 

“His level of maturity for being a 17-year-old kid in the recruiting spotlight that he's been in is pretty remarkable,” Griedl said. “He hasn't let it get to his head. He's still as humble as he's ever been. And to be honest, I think it's probably humbled him even more just because he realizes with so many of his friends and people who he's trained with in the past and other people in the state and really across the country who are really good players, not getting the opportunities that he's getting, I think it's humbled him to really appreciate it even that much more. 

“If you didn't know Tiki was a Top Five defensive tackle in the nation, you wouldn't know outside of saying, 'Man, that kid's a really big kid.' He's just a great individual. I think that type of temperament is ultimately why his final three are his final three. I think he sees very similar values in the d-tackle coaches who would be coaching him and the d-coordinators who would be coaching him, and then also in the head coaches who would be coaching him.”

Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington and head coach Marcus Freeman have certainly made tremendous impressions.

“Coach Washington has been outstanding,” Griedl said. “He's really been a beacon of support for Tiki during this whole process. I can speak to just getting to know Coach Washington and his character through this process. I think Tiki sees that as a strong suit and somebody he could absolutely play for at the next level. 

“And then just the reality of College Football, Coach Washington is a really good coach, and Tiki understands that. If Tiki commits to Notre Dame, he's hopeful that Coach Washington will coach him all the way through. But if he doesn't, he also knows the character of Marcus Freeman, and he knows that Marcus is going to go find another great coach who may not be exactly like Coach Washington, but the apple's not going to fall too far from the tree in terms of the culture and individual that would replace him.”

Hola entered the process with strong values and a mature perspective.

“Tiki's always been a very relational person,” his coach said. “He wears his faith on his sleeve and he just wants honesty from people. Going into the situation, being on a staff and being around coaches who have had other players go through the same situation he is and educating him and his parents on, 'This is what's coming. This is what it's going to look like,' and things like that, he kind of braced himself from the very beginning before it really started snowballing in terms of the recruitment process of just looking for signs and signals of the right things and maybe things that he questioned. 

“When he questioned things or maybe there were things that were said to him that maybe raised a red flag, he didn't necessarily just take people off the list, but he would explore that and see if there was reality to that or if that was just a slip of the tongue type thing.“

Not surprisingly, as a player Hola checks boxes on and off the field, according to Griedl.

“In terms of his play, obviously his play speaks for itself,” the coach said. “He's a big ole kid. He has an extremely long wingspan. I think he has an 84-inch wingspan. He's great at locking people out and playing two gaps. I think the thing that really makes him great is his attention to detail and his coachability. 

“He's always been a big kid. He's always been the biggest kid on the field, but really what sets him apart from other big kids is his ability to be kinesthetically aware, feel how his body moves, be able to understand things that he needs to change when we're coaching him and then being able to feel it and make those changes. He's a team captain for us. He's a team leader for us. He's an overall great kid. He has a great family. His parents are unbelievable people. He's really easy to recruit because he's just a good dude who is just looking for sincerity and genuineness out of his next stop.”

Hola will make that next stop known on May 10th.

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