Notre Dame lands commitment from Texas DL Tiki Hola
In a recruitment that went down to the wire ahead of his announcement, Bastrop (Texas) defensive lineman Tiki Hola has committed to Notre Dame football.
The 6-4, 300-pounder has been a longtime target for defensive line coach Al Washington and analyst Nick Sebastian, who offered him a scholarship back in March 2024. Hola has visited Notre Dame five times, most recently for the Irish’s annual Blue-Gold Game April 12. He’s been a major, priority target for the Irish staff, and they got their guy.
“They’re very connected with me,” Hola previously told On3 regarding the Irish staff. “They’ve stayed in close connection with me. They’ve built a very good relationship with me … They’ve always made me feel welcome. They are a team that has a lot of history as well. They have great culture, a great history and the development that they’ve had is great. I love seeing that.”
In late March, Hola named a top-three schools list of Notre Dame, SMU and USC with this recruitment really coming down to the Irish and Mustangs. He visited SMU at least a couple times in the spring, including an official visit the weekend before his decision date. Both programs recently had in-home and school visits with Hola, with the Irish’s Washington and Sebastian getting the last visit on Thursday night.
“They have a different type of culture over there,” said Hola about Notre Dame. “The love that they put towards these athletes and everything — just the love that they have for this game and that they always are checking up on everybody and everything.”
Hola kept a lot of people in the dark leading up to his announcement, but he gave the Fighting Irish a big boost Saturday afternoon by pledging to ND during an Instagram live stream.
He checks in as the No. 449 overall player and No. 48 defensive lineman in the country according to the 2026 On3 Industry Ranking.
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Hola also held offers from the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Oregon, Miami, Tennessee, Michigan, Nebraska and many others.
During a tremendous junior season, Hola posted 102 tackles (10 for loss), 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and 9 quarterback hurries in 12 games.
Hola becomes Notre Dame’s third defensive line commitment in its 2026 class, joining defensive ends Rodney Dunham and Ebenezer Ewetade, who are both from North Carolina. The Irish have the No. 4 class according to the 2026 Industry Ranking Team Recruiting Rankings with their 15 commitments.
He was named to the Texas Sports Writers Association 2024 Class 5A first-team all-state defense. He was also on the Padilla Poll Coaches 2024 5A DII all-state second-team defense. Hola was the 2024 Texas District 11-5A defensive MVP.
