2. Gabe Jacas is building his consensus All-American campaign
Everyone knew that Gabe Jacas was a great player coming into the Western Illinois game. In fact, he was a preseason All-American.
When you see a defense that has a player who is that talented, you should probably double-team him. That didn’t matter on Friday night, though. Jacas went wild.
Jacas finished the game with five tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, and one pass deflection. He was constantly in the Western Illinois backfield, and even when he wasn’t getting the ball carrier, he was putting pressure on their offense.
The dominance was on full display for the Illini. Jacas had four quarterback pressures and a forced fumble, too. While not every team has played yet, Jacas is the highest-rated edge in the college game right now on Pro Football Focus.
Throughout the history of the Illinois football program, we have had 22 consensus All-Americans. The last one was Jer’Zhan Newton in 2023. Illinois’ last seven consensus All-Americans have come on the defensive side of the ball, too.
The way Jacas came out of the gates on Friday night, I think it is the start of his consensus All-American campaign. He didn’t rest on his great 2024 campaign this offseason. Jacas worked on his craft and got better, and it is noticeable.