Illinois Coach Bret Bielema Compares Gabe Jacas to Former NFL Defensive POY

Gabe Jacas landed on Illinois coach Bret Bielema's radar the way he now storms the backfields of Big Ten quarterbacks – in a hurry and with jarring results.

Bielema recently joined former All-American linebacker and current college football analyst David Pollack for an episode of Pollack's "See Ball Get Ball" podcast, and recounted the tale of his first exposure to Jacas as a high school prospect.

A coaching friend of Bielema's based in Florida was doing some advance scouting for his high school program and stumbled across a teenage dynamo who was regularly terrorizing opponents on the field while somehow eluding the notice of top Division I recruiters.

"He's actually at a game watching the prep for the team he's going to play," Bielema said of his friend. "And he was playing a team that was going against Gabe, and he called. He goes, 'Hey, I don't know who this Gabe Jacas kid is, but you ought to look him up.'"

Bielema initially had a little trouble tracking down Jacas through the usual channels. Jacas' high school program wasn't using the popular recruiting platform Hudl – "Crazy as that is in today's world," Bielema said – so the Illini brain trust went to work compiling film of Jacas from opponents' footage.

"I watched a couple of clips of games, and I literally sent Aaron Henry, who was my DV coach, and now he's now my coordinator," Bielema said. "We were going into a bye week on Monday. He called me, he said, 'Coach, this kid is beautiful.' So we started going after him."

Bret Bielema joined us and spoke on motivating his players to pursue long-term NFL wealth over short-term NIL opportunities

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That early attention paid off for Illinois, which signed Jacas, developed him into an All-Big Ten performer and saw him turn away the offseason snooping of certain rival college programs hoping to lure him away from Champaign. Now considered a top NFL prospect going into his senior season, Jacas reminds Bielema of one of his former (exceptionally notable) proteges.

"He's got [that] country, hand-strength thing, like, grown-man strength, right?" Bielema said. "Like, it kind of reminds me ... I had a player at Wisconsin that reminds [of him] a lot of times: J.J. Watt. J.J. was a stand-down defensive end. Gabe plays on his feet. But when he was in a three-point stance last year, kind of at that true D-end – that 4-technique, 5-technique – he was the most productive player in college football in the reps that he had there."

If Jacas is able to muster a fraction of the career put together by Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, he'll make for a rock-solid pro. Bielema mentions another comp in three-time Pro Bowl selection Matt Judon, who has amassed 72 sacks over nine NFL seasons.

"I never got to coach him, but I saw him in the league for a long time – just a really strong, big outside 'backer, good on his feet," Bielema said of Judon. "Probably want to rush him about 90 percent of the time and drop him less than 10. But, you know, very talented."

It's unclear exactly where Jacas will slot in the pros – scheme figures to largely dictate his position – but the 6-foot-3, 275-pounder has the combination of power, quickness and hand-fighting skills to move up and down the line, and around the box, to help any NFL defense creatively target favorable pass-rushing matchups.

"I know the next level thinks he's going to be really special," Bielema said. "So, yeah, really, really good upside there."

Illinois Coach Bret Bielema Compares Gabe Jacas to Former NFL Defensive POY

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