Could Illinois edge rusher Gabe Jacas be a sleeper in the NFL draft? ‘He's supremely underrated.'
Gabe Jacas feels like he has a history of being underestimated, so why should the NFL draft be any different?
The Illinois edge rusher was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, ranked between the 60s and 80s at his position by various scouting services.
A year ago, he was graded as low as a fourth-round pick, prompting him to return for a fourth college season. Even now, some critics say he lacks explosiveness, flexibility and discipline stopping the run.
In short: limited upside.
"A lot of people misconstrue me for who I am as a pass rusher, my ability to bend, get to the quarterback effectively," Jacas said. "I think that’s something I can do, day in and day out."
Illini coach Bret Bielema felt from Day 1 that Jacas would be his regime’s first first-round pick, but that distinction went to cornerback Devon Witherspoon, whom the Seattle Seahawks drafted with the No. 5 pick in 2023.
"Devon Witherspoon beat him to the punch, but I think this kid is very special," Bielema said.
Jacas’ highest projection is the mid-second round, so the first round seems unlikely. Still, there's some buzz leading up to the April 23-25 draft that he could be a sleeper.
"He’s supremely underrated in this year’s class," ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said of Jacas, who tied for second in the Big Ten last season with 11 sacks. "We know he can get after the quarterback. What I really like about him is how strong he is against the run. He’s very firm, he’s very violent. He has really good hands as well.
"He’s not going to be that overly explosive or bendy type of guy. He’s not going to be a 12- to 14-sack player but somebody that can come in and play right away, that can give you eight to 10 sacks a year."
Jacas' backstory suggests he has flown under the radar before.
In a way, he got his shot from Jack Daniels.
A native of Port St. Lucie, Fla., Jacas committed to Tulane after his junior season at Fort Pierce Central High School.
But during his senior season, fate intervened after Bielema got an unexpected tip.
"It sounds like a joke,” Bielema said, “but a good friend of mine named Jack Daniels, who was a head coach (at Cardinal Newman High School) down in West Palm Beach, Fla., called me. He was scouting the next week’s opponent, and he’s like: ‘You've got to see this kid. This guy’s name is Gabriel Jacas, and I think he’s committed to Tulane.'
"We go to find him on (prep recruiting platform) Hudl - his high school didn’t even put Hudl out."
Jacas was equally taken aback by Daniels' gesture.
"Four years ago, it was crazy," Jacas said. "The team I was playing against in high school, the opposing team, the head coach had reached out to Bret Bielema and told him about me, which I thought was pretty cool. Because usually the opposing team, they don’t really care about who they’re going against, but he was just looking out for me."
Bielema sent Aaron Henry, then the Illini’s defensive backs coach and later defensive coordinator, to scout Jacas the next week.
Meanwhile, Bielema's staff pieced together highlights of Jacas from his opponents' reels.
"After (Henry had) seen my whole body type (6-foot-4 and 245 pounds at the time), they were very interested in me, offered me, and I went up there for a physical visit,” Jacas said. “And after that, the rest was history."
He signed with Illinois in December 2021.
Bielema went to the mat for a former wrestler.
Bielema sensed early on Jacas had the mental makeup to make it in the Big Ten, partly because of his background as a wrestler.
"Wrestlers learn to compete in that the only thing that’s going on in a wrestling match are those two dudes in that circle," Bielema said. "And only two men enter, and only one man leaves."
Jacas, Florida’s Class 3A 220-pound champion in 2021, said that with wrestling, "it's just you out there. You can’t blame anybody else but yourself. So I feel like I carry myself (the same way) in football, not pointing fingers."
Off the mat and on the field, there was work to do. Bielema saw a special player with good power and a keen understanding of how to use it.
"He just didn’t know how to use the second move off of it," he said. "The best pass rushers that I’ve ever been around are the guys that can hit one move effectively, but the counter comes even better."
A coaching carousel didn't cost Jacas consistency.
Bielema made it a priority for him and his staff to teach Jacas the finer points of edge rushing.
But Jacas had a different outside linebackers coach in each of his four seasons in Champaign: Kevin Kane, Charlie Bullen, Clint Sintim and former Miami Dolphins and New York Giants outside linebacker Trent Harris.
Bielema said he had Jacas' development in mind when he hired Harris as an assistant outside linebackers coach in 2024 and then promoted him the next season.
Instead of discord going from coach to coach, Jacas learned different techniques from each coach, as well as from skill development coordinator Joe Kim and defensive line coach/co-defensive coordinator Terrance Jamison.
Jamison is "very detail-oriented and he’s a very good teacher," Jacas said. "Obviously he had (NFL linemen) Johnny Newton, Keith Randolph and Trey Hendrickson (the latter at Florida Atlantic). Those guys, they’re good technicians, and that’s something that he taught me to be, to be very detailed in my hands and my footwork."
Jacas credited Kim for his growth as a rush specialist last season and said Bielema did “a good job of just teaching Football 101 and just the things that you need to be, the tools you need to be a great football player."
Newton was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, when he posted a career-high 7½ sacks. The Washington Commanders drafted him in the second round (No. 36) in 2024.
"Johnny was the most productive early-down pass rusher in college football two years in a row," Bielema said. "And that’s what I engaged Gabe. I said: ‘First and second down make up 75% of the game, right? Everybody wants to be a great third-down pass rusher, but that only accounts for 15% of the game. So why not be a more effective player on 75% of snaps than just 15%.’"
Bielema coached Jacas on the nuances of playing on the edge, such as how rush angles change between a quarterback's five- and seven-step drops, as well as the different approaches to rushing left and right tackles.
"How to attack a chip block, how to attack a chipper, how to sell things in a run game, in a pass game - kind of NFL-level-type thinking," Bielema said. "He truly understands the game, in my opinion, a little bit better than most. And I think that’ll translate into what the NFL will see when they really watch his film and observe how he’s rushing the passer."
Who's the best comp for Jacas?
Jacas said he takes pride in how much he has developed his speed-to-power technique, considered one of his best attributes.
"I always want to be a dominant pass rusher," he said. "I’m always taking it to the tackle. … You can’t just go around, attack a guy. You've got to go right through their face."
Jacas sells speed to a tackle, then as a second move he converts it to power either with a long-arm technique or some form of bull rush.
"If he’s going with full bull, then he’s got a great snatch,” Bielema said of a rusher's maneuver to pull a tackle forward, using his momentum against him. "He does a really good job of snatching and getting vertical on early downs, making one direct vertical move to the passer.
"And then he is good at counter. He really does do a nice job of speed to counter, which is obviously one that, on third down, is where he’s made his hay."
Bielema has coached a number of standout defenders as a head coach and assistant through his various college and NFL stops, including Wisconsin, Arkansas, the New England Patriots and the Giants. When asked if Jacas reminded him of a past player, Bielema landed on two: J.J. Watt and Matt Judon.
Bielema said Jacas has Watt's mentality.
"I had J.J. at Wisconsin, and J.J. was a really meticulous detail guy like Gabe, but also just a relentless work ethic, attitude, demeanor," he said.
However, Jacas' physical attributes are more reminiscent of Judon, a four-time (2019-22) Pro Bowl outside linebacker with the Baltimore Ravens and Patriots.
"I’ve always told the NFL people that come through me or around us that I think he’s a version of Matt Judon,” Bielema said. “Just very, very, powerful, very athletic. (He) has the ability to do some things on his feet that a lot of people can’t do with power and intensity."
NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein also compares Jacas to Judon.
Jacas had a setback heading into the combine.
He participated in the Senior Bowl in January, but a hamstring injury kept him out of most of the scouting combine workouts in February in Indianapolis. He later ran a 4.69-second 40-yard dash at a private workout, according to reports.
At the combine, Jacas tied for fifth in the bench press among all positions with 30 reps of 225 pounds.
"He probably would even tell you he thought he’d probably get two more," Bielema said.
The most stressful part of the combine was the mental gymnastics Jacas had to perform during interviews with a host of teams.
He said his best piece of advice came from Newton: "Don’t overthink it when you’re in these meetings. Just be who you are. Don’t try to be someone you’re not."
What is Jacas' outlook?
And that is the question: Who is Jacas at the NFL level?
"He’s a 270-pound guy that I think a lot of teams in the NFL are trying to project him as a 290-pound end," Bielema said. "But I just don’t know if he’ll ever get to that point. But he is a very, very powerful player."
Jacas has been working on his agility and efficiency in recent months, but during the season it was a must to show scouts some versatility. That included putting his hand in the ground, not just rushing from a standing position.
"It shows teams that not only I’m an edge rusher, but I can also play inside and have some value, pass-rushing-wise," Jacas said. "And I can play anywhere across the line."
Wherever Jacas ends up - several mock drafts have the Detroit Lions selecting him in the second round - and however he's used, Bielema believes he'll be able to adapt.
"I would tell this to every team that I’ve talked to: As good as Gabe Jacas has been, the best is yet to come," Bielema said. "He’s truly got an incredible raw skill set that I think is just waiting to become untapped."
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