Welcome to Irish Illustrated Insider, brought to you by the Black Tux.

It's Tim and Tim today, Tim Preezer, with Tim O'Malley.

It is February 14th, Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day to everybody.

Nordim got a verbal commitment on Wednesday, the fifth of the class of 2020,

Aden Kea Ana. It's going to be difficult for us to pronounce that. Eventually we'll get there,

but... Yeah, it's not Neumato Lolo. That one comes off real easily. But Aden Kia Ana Ina is a nose tackle. I like him. I don't think that he's necessarily a big playmaker for Notre Dame on that defensive line and nose tackle.

He's got to add some size. He just turned 17 years old. But everybody loves him. He's got a great motor. He's got good lower body strength.

He's going to hold the point of attack. I know a lot of times people think when they hear he's going to hold the point of attack like that's a negative. It's not. It's not. I mean, first and foremost, that's the number one priority. And he'll be able to do that, especially as he's just growing into his body. And so he's number five for the class of 2020.

Yeah, if he were coming in this year as a freshman, instead, he'd be a guy. You'd think, well, they're going to have to get him out there because there's that lack of depth. It would be nice to have that body on the field this spring, or at least this fall. And, yeah, it's a guy that'll help. you know, Notre Dame, the reason they're in, it's not dire straits, but the reason they lack some depth inside is they had a recruiting miss in Ewell. Franklin was seriously injured. And then, and kind of bad luck, Hunter Spears is getting injured. I mean, you don't want to rely on the incoming freshman. That was late in the year, too. Right. It was some bad luck in one recruiting miss. That's why stockpiling defensive linemen that are of quality, especially interior, is what every coach does that's been successful at both college and pro level. This is the way to go. It's interesting that, you know, Jacob Lacey's early entry freshman. What if he wasn't? Yeah, I know. I mean, that's really, really important. And so he'll probably have to play nose tackle. Kind of like Jerry Tillerie did his freshman year when you knew that that nose tackle wasn't his best position per se. I mean, ultimately, I think Lacey ends up as a three technique, but they need him as a nose as spring, or so it appears.

Yeah, I wrote about this today.

I did a defensive depth story, and I put Lacey nose tackle because he has to be. He is a nose tackle now, but you don't know we're holding up in the future. Obviously, he's more suited for the nose than Jason Adamiola would be. Oh, yes. That's how you do it. You got to slot these guys. But you mentioned Tilleri, that was 2015.

2017, they had to rely on, not as starters, but they relied on Heinrich and MTA. From game one on. 2018, Adam Alola got in there starting about game two on, and they've had to rely on a freshman inside every year, and they definitely will this year as well. It hasn't hurt them yet.

No, it has not.

They've really played well.

The one here, they don't think, like, it's off the top of my head. They didn't rely on a freshman in there in 2016, and that's when everything went wrong. I mean, these are talented freshmen, too. They're not throwing out guys. I think Heinish might not have played on other teams for other good Notre Dame teams,

because that was a good team and 17, but he, he, he, throwing out guys. I think Heinish might not have played on other teams for other good Notre Dame

teams because that was a good team and 17, but he acquitted himself well for being thrown in there.

And MTA looked very good as a fresh. Yeah, he did. Hit the ground running. Heinish even better as

sophomore year, but a huge step forward as a gap penetrator.

Yeah, I mean, we've talked about this in last several podcasts.

It's not a great situation, but I mean, they'll make it work.

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