If Gabe Jacas wasn’t bringing down opposing quarterbacks, he was likely pinning opponents on the wrestling mat.
Jacas picked up wrestling as a freshman at Fort Pierce Central High School. By his junior year — the time he also fully transitioned from offensive to defensive line — he posted a 26-4 record while winning a state title.
The following season, the 245-pound Jacas went 47-2 in the heavyweight class (285-pound division) and again took home a state championship. That came after a breakout year
on the gridiron, where he tallied 35 tackles for loss and 13 sacks, earning County Male Athlete of the Year honors for 2021-22.
Football ultimately became Jacas’ future, as he committed to the University of Illinois. But his wrestling background translated directly to the field.
“The ability to, you know, being low, having leverage, using your hands, fighting, those all keyed into football,” Jacas explained. “Wrestling has a lot of trade over into football, especially with hand fighting. Especially at this position on the edge, you got to use your hands effectively, and that’s one thing that I carried over the most with is being able to use my hands efficiently and effectively. So, everyone knows me as a football player, but wrestling had a big part in that as well.”
Jacas went on to make an immediate impact at Illinois, playing in all 13 games as a freshman and being named the teams’ Rookie of the Year Award winner. His production took off as an upperclassmen, culminating in a senior season in which he led the conference with 11.0 sacks — the sixth most in the nation.
That performance came in the same year the Fighting Illini hired former Patriots pass-rush specialist Joe Kim, a former taekwondo instructor who incorporates martial arts techniques into his coaching.
“Joe Kim is one of the best in the business at that,” Jacas said. “Obviously Joe Kim has been around a lot of players and a lot of teams. And one thing that he always brought to the room was just, be able to use your hand effectively, and then staying on your track line, staying close to the fight. Just attacking the tackle, don’t go around them, don’t go away from them, just go, stay on your track and go right through them.
“So Joe Kim is my guy, and I really appreciate how he developed me into the pass rusher I am now. And I can’t thank him enough for just helping my game a lot.”
After Jacas came to Foxboro for a pre-draft visit, Kim told the pass rusher, “Yeah, you’re a Patriot.” That rang true as the Patriots traded up in the second round of the NFL Draft to select Jacas.
It’s not the only tie Jacas has to the franchise. Illinois’ staff includes several former Patriots coaches and players, including Bret Bielema, James White and Kevin Richardson. That connection led Jacas — who compares his game to Matthew Judon — to watch plenty of New England film over the past four years.
“Coach B played a lot of the Patriots film in the meeting rooms and kind of try to relate how they practice, how they play, to our team. So, it was like, whenever they called me, it felt like just right,” Jacas said. “And I just like their brand of football. I feel like I know a lot about the Patriots and I’m just excited, again, to get started.”
