Local stars Laughery, Feagin now veterans at Illini fall camp

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – It may feel like just yesterday that Kaden Feagin and Aidan Laughery were starring on WCIA 3’s Friday Football Fever.

Now, the pair of local standouts are the veterans at training camp with the Illini.

Laughery, a Gibson City product will hope to stay healthy and productive as a senior, after being limited to nine games in 2025.

Feagin, now in his fifth year with the Illini after attending Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond, faces the task of switching positions from running back to tight end.

Both guys are working with new position coaches.

For Laughery, it’s first-year Illini running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley. Wheatley enjoyed success out of the backfield himself both at Michigan and in the NFL.

“His mentality is just going and getting after it in every way that we can,” Laughery said of Wheatley. “And raising the standard around us through our play as a room, as a running backs. And that’s kind of what his M.O. as a player was.”

Feagin moves into the tight end room at the same time as Jared Elliott takes over coaching that group. Elliott comes to Champaign from New Mexico.

Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. expects fall training camp to be highly beneficial for Feagin in his new role. After learning the ropes of the position in the spring, he can now transition from introductions to production and growth while lining up on the line of scrimmage.

“Been super impressed with his willingness to get in there and he’s always going to mix it up because he loves football and he loves contact and just embracing the the fundamentals, the position,” Lunney said. “I’ve been really pleased with Kaden, I think his body looks great… I think this camp will be tremendous for him because he got enough in the spring to get his feet wet and show that he can he can certainly make an impact on this.”>

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