Illinois Football 2025 Scouting Report: Running Back Aidan Laughery

Laughery has the profile of a No. 1 back but will likely share carries with Kaden Feagin and Ca'Lil Valentine

Dec 31, 2024; Orlando, FL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini running back Aidan Laughery (21) runs the ball against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the first quarter at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images | Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

Illinois on SI is delivering scouting reports for each of the key players on the Illini football team's 2025 roster. Below, we present our breakdown of Illini junior running back Aidan Laughery. We will add more as other on-field contributors emerge during the season. Find our scouting reports of other Illinois players by searching in your favorite browser or clicking in our projected depth chart.

Aidan Laughery | Running back | Junior | No. 21

Hometown: Gibson City, Illinois

High school: Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley

Height: 5-foot-11

Weight: 200 pounds

Scouting report

An elusive yet physical back, Laughery possesses a solid combination of speed, agility and strength. His game is greater than the sum of its parts. He has less than blazing straight-line speed and less than explosive lateral movement, but he's plenty fast and shifty. He's not quite a power back yet still strong as an ox. Combine it all with next-level vision and patience, and you have a top-notch back in Laughery.

Among Big Ten running backs who finished with at least 90 carries in 2025, Laughery’s 6.1-yard rushing average ranked fourth in the conference. He seems to have an innate feel for when to cut back, bounce it outside or just turn on the jets. Laughery hasn't shown much as a receiver (at least not yet) and is only a so-so blocker in pass protection.

Experience

Laughery arrived in Champaign as a freshman in 2022, appearing in just one game before taking a redshirt year. In 2023, he played in nine games, earning 16 carries and scoring his first career touchdown.

Following a season-ending injury to Kaden Feagin in 2024, Laughery was thrust into a larger role alongside Josh McCray, quickly making his mark and earning more snaps and carries with each passing game. He finished second on the team in rushing yards (his 589 were just behind McCray’s 609) and first in yards per carry by a wide margin.

Year	Team	Games	Carries	Rushing Yards	Rushing TDs
2024	Illinois	12	97	589	4
2023	Illinois	9	16	81	1
2022	Illinois	1	3	9	0

Media highlights

What they're saying

“I want to get better at pass protection. [That] would be [at] the front of that list, and excited to work at that every day,” said Laughery when asked about the area of his game he hopes to improve in 2025.

2025 outlook

Laughery has made a compelling case to become Illinois’ top running back option with his performance in 2024, especially given his efficiency as a runner. With the return of Feagin, a power back, Laughery likely will share something close to an even 50-50 split of snaps and carries as part of a thunder-and-lightning type backfield.

Sophomore Ca’Lil Valentine seems to be in line for an uptick in opportunities, too. A three-headed-monster run game served the Illini well last season, so there’s no reason to believe offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. won’t continue taking advantage of the full scope of his available running back talent.

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