Laughery: 'It's part of who I am'

Aug. 21—CHAMPAIGN — Aidan Laughery needed a moment to himself Wednesday after leaving Levenick Auditorium at the Smith Center.

The Illinois running back had just taken the opportunity to speak in front of the entire team after being named one of six Illini captains. He had important phone calls to make. Big news, obviously, to share with his family and friends.

But a minute or two to himself was important.

Laughery needed that moment to reflect on what had just happened. To let it sink in that his teammates respected him enough to make him a captain. That they viewed him through a leadership lens.

"Just having a moment to myself to just think about how far I've come," Laughery said.

Laughery was among the first players in the Class of 2022 to commit to then still new Illinois coach Bret Bielema, making his decision ahead of his senior season at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.

An injury cost Laughery most of that final year of high school football. He played in just one game in 2022 at Illinois and redshirted after dealing with an another injury. Similar soft-tissue injuries waylaid him during the 2023 and 2025 seasons.

So, there was some real meaning when Laughery told his teammates Wednesday that he never would have anticipated being in front of them, newly named a captain, ahead of his fifth and final season with the program.

Laughery's message to his team on Wednesday — directed mostly to the younger players at the back of the room — would be the same thing he would have told his younger self when he arrived on campus as an early enrollee in January 2022.

"It's going to be tough," Laughery said. "You're going to go through things, but ultimately, it's not success that's going to build you into the man that you are. It's going to be the adversity you face and how you get through it. That's everything that's gotten me to this point.

"The most important thing is just trust the process, remember why you're here and keep grinding every day to be the best you. We play with a chip on each shoulder. That's kind of the mentality of our team — our culture here. That's how I've thought. There's never been any doubts, any questioning, 'Why me?'"

How Laughery has approached his time at Illinois clearly resonated with his teammates. With zero returning captains from 2025, the veteran running back wound up a part of a new slate that included defensive backs Matthew Bailey and Xavier Scott, quarterback Katin Houser, offensive lineman Jake Renfro and wide receiver Collin Dixon.

Bailey, who joined the Illini the same year as Laughery, has mostly just faced his fellow captain across the line of scrimmage in their careers. What he's seen on the field has impressed. What he's learned of Laughery off it has been just as important.

"Being on different sides of the ball, it's kind of hard to build that relationship a lot because you're not around each other often," Bailey said. "But he's a great dude. Being from right down the road, I've met his family on multiple occasions. He's a super hard working guy, and he's very down to earth. He's very real."

Laughery's emotions about being named an Illinois captain were just as real. Those came through when he addressed his teammates Wednesday and again Thursday when the six captains spoke with the local media.

"I've seen all the hard work he's put in," Houser said. "He deserves it. I don't think anybody more deserves it than him. He embraces it for sure. You can definitely tell the passion he plays with and the intensity he comes with in the building and just the importance of being an Illinois football player."

The importance of Laughery, someone who grew up a 45-minute drive from Gies Memorial Stadium, winding up a team captain was reflected Wednesday in the number of text messages former GCMS coach Mike Allen received.

Every text, Allen said, was some version of, "Hey, have you seen Aidan was named a captain?"

"I was shocked, in a sense, (Wednesday), yet I wasn't because he's such a natural leader," Allen added. Laughery was also a team captain in his senior year at GCMS.

"Not going to lie, it made me shed a tear or two just being so proud of him," the former GCMS coach continued. "He's such a humble kid. That's a thing that's also just a blessing. He's so humble. He's a gifted, talented athlete, but he's as humble as they come.

"We knew he had the ability. You just didn't know if he'd get that opportunity coming from a small school like us. Coach B. and the coaching staff have noticed his hard work and what he's put into it. If we keep the injuries away, I'm looking for an amazing senior season out of him."

A fifth season in Champaign for Laughery that will cap a college football career that has changed how he's viewed the team he followed intently as a kid.

"You can be a fan," Laughery said. "You can follow a team. It's different when you're on the inside. It's part of who I am. It's built me to be the man that I am today."