Nearly six years ago, a three-star linebacker recruit from Florida landed in Champaign, ready for the opportunity to play college football in one of the nation's top conferences. He had long dreamed of competing at this level after learning in middle school that his father played football at BYU and left a legacy behind as the program's top tackler.
Jake Hansen never anticipated leaving a similar mark on the Illinois football program. But through all the highs and lows of the last several seasons, Hansen was a constant. Illini fans could always count on Hansen forcing a turnover or making a key tackle when the game was on the line.
But Hansen has never wanted the credit. If Hansen was on the field for a loss, he'd take the blame, but if he contributed to the win, he gave credit to his teammates. It's something he's learned from leaders in his life since he was a kid.
"I think it's a testament to my family and the kind of the values they instilled in me early," Hansen said. "And then having great mentors here, first with coach Smith and then having Coach B to finish off, just two great guys that helped me develop a ton in my career and having great coaches and people in my corner all the time. I would say that's how I was able to accomplish things here and have success on the field."
What Hansen has accomplished puts him in the conversation of all-time Illini greats. Despite missing time with various injuries, Hansen ends his career with 12 forced fumbles, the second-most in program history behind Illini legend Simeon Rice who had 13. Hansen is also tied for the sixth-most forced fumbles in Big Ten history.
Between Hansen's junior and season seasons (2019-20), he led the nation in takeaways with 14. In his career, he led the Illini in tackles eight times and became one of two Big Ten players since 2000 with two games of 10-plus tackles and two forced fumbles in the same season. The other play — Chris Borland — who Bret Bielema coached at Wisconsin when Borland accomplished the feat.
Even with all of the accolades, it's still difficult to quantify Hansen's impact on the Illini football program. As a three-time captain, Hansen has been the guy every Illini looks to in the face of adversity.
"He leads by example," Owen Carney Jr. said. "Just the way he plays, you have respect him when he opens his mouth. If he's telling you to give your all, you're gonna be sure that he has given his all. So when he tells you something you better listen because he knows where were you coming from. He's been through all the trials and tribulations, so he's a resilient, bounce back guy."
Hansen really broke out for the Illini in 2018 as a sophomore. He played in all 12 games as a freshman, then redshirted the 2017 due to injury. The following year, Hansen began to build his legacy.
Starting all 12 games at linebacker, Hansen recorded his first career forced fumble, sack and pass breakup. He led the Illini in solo tackles and tied for the lead in total tackles. Then in 2019, Hansen made a jump into the national conversation.
While he missed the final four games from another injury, he still led the nation in forced fumbles (7) and ranked sixth in the nation with three fumble recoveries. Pro Football Focus ranked Hansen the No. 17 graded linebacker in the nation and No. 5 in the conference. He was also named a Butkus Award Semifinalist.
Hansen's year-to-year progression was as consistent as he contributions to the Illini. In what he thought was his final season, Hansen earned the No. 3 tackling grade in the nation by PFF. In the Big Ten, he ranked fifth in tackles for loss, eight in forced fumbles and 10 in fumble recoveries and tackles.
In 2020, Hansen had four straight games with a takeaway and was named to the All-Big Ten second team by the media and third team by the coaches.
As Hansen became the clear leader and star of the Illini, he never wanted to speak about his accolades or his talent. Even when Hansen neared Rice's forced fumble record, he rarely acknowledged it or would credit his teammates when asked about it. To him, a leader was someone who didn't need to let anything but action do the talking.
"Your achievements should just speak for themselves," Hansen said. "There's no need to talk about how hard anyone worked. I think that they just kind of speak for themselves with your play and how you hold and carry yourself. I think that's the way it should be."
Because of the pandemic, Hansen was offered an extra year of eligibility and had the chance to play one more season at Illinois. But he was set on working towards the NFL Draft and left Champaign to train.
Then he started to have conversations with Bielema and his teammates confirmed the change the new staff was installing. Even though Hansen felt he was so close to becoming a pro, there was still some unfinished business at Illinois. On March 1, Hansen announced his return to Champaign.
"I thought I could show some more things on tape and show different ability on tape that I left on the table," Hansen said. "Originally Coach B came in and we almost got into a little bit of argument on the phone, but it was all from a good place. It wasn't like we were mad at each other, it was just passion on both ends. And he talked a big game and I will say Coach B does talk a big game, but he backs it up with everything he's done. I called a lot of my buddies and they were all like 'yeah, man it's true. This is this way, great strength staff, he's on top of everything.' After I heard all that and continued the conversations with him, it was an easy decision for me."
Hansen's final chance to prove his talents started off just as planned. Through five games, Hansen totaled 32 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks and two forced fumbles — just one away from tying the program record.
Then, the Illini leader went down in Illinois' Homecoming game against Wisconsin and Hansen would later announce he tore his ACL. His season and his collegiate career were over.
Before Hansen could even begin to process what happened, the what if's flooded his thoughts. He remembers just running through all the things he could've done different in his head. But after allowing those thoughts to run their course, Hansen remembered something Doug Kramer always says: hindsight is 20/20.
"I originally thought, 'man why did I do this? Why did I do this?' And I think that's a natural response anyone would have because it felt like I was so close to going to play professionally, and then coming back and the injury kind of puts a monkey wrench in everything and kind of screws with it," Hansen said. "So that was my initial thought. But after processing it more and thinking about it more, I can never give up more memories that I've made with my teammates and being able to even just be a part of it, even though I didn't play in like the Penn State game, just to be a part of those things and be a part of beating Minnesota on the road and knocking off these two team ranked teams on the road. And playing with my little brother, I could never give that up, I could never take that away and say that I would want to do it a different way."
While it was extremely hard for Hansen right after the injury, he started attacking things hour by hour and day by day, using the support of his family and team to push through. Even at times when he wanted to be alone, he forced himself to be around friends or in the facility to make sure he didn't slow down.
Seeing Hansen handle his adversity with pride and poise gave the Illini defense extra motivation to go out on the field and find success without their leader.
"As far as the whole defense, it probably just gave us the mentality that we carry right now, which is next man up," Carney said. "It's very sad he couldn't finish out this season seeing all that he went through just to get back to Illinois. Jake, he's like the definition of adversity. For him it's not what happened, it's always what's next. So he's still in the building these last couple of weeks, just grinding. He's limited in mobility as far as lower body, but he has no limitations with his upper body, so he still has the desire to get out there. I see no quit in him at all. He doesn't have that spirit."
Obviously, Hansen never anticipated this type of end to his career at Illinois. It's not one he or anyone in the program wanted for such an instrumental piece of the program. But it's still not an excuse for Hansen to give up now.
This time last year, Hansen was preparing to pursue the NFL and that plan hasn't changed. It might take more time for him to reach his future football goals, but Hansen's been through adversity before and knows he can come out stronger on the other side.
At the end of the day, Hansen wouldn't change his experience as an Illini. As much as he wants to stay in Champaign longer, he knows his time has expired, but he's ready to take the next step. And there's no doubt he leaves behind of the greatest legacies in years.
"Illinois gave me an opportunity to compete at the highest level of college football, and it's something I'll never, ever take for granted," Hansen said. "And that's something I will appreciate forever. I would say being able to produce and help our program the best way I could, and I know that left everything out there on the line, whether that was a mental preparation or physical preparation. I can leave here knowing I did everything I could."
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November 27, 2021 at 05:59AM
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Hansen Leaves It All on the Field - University of Illinois Athletics - Fighting Illini
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