Illinois coach Bret Bielema has been pushing the hashtag hard on social media.
A comment from a national reporter hyping up Hank Beatty? #CIP. A photo of Aidan Laughery after a 101-yard rushing performance? #CIP.
“#CIP has always been here but now they are staying here,” Bielema posted earlier this season. “Look out for our Central Illinois Players that are ready to make some noise in the #B1G (Big Ten).”
While Mississippi-bred quarterback Luke Altmyer is the face of the Illini offense this season, three players from small central Illinois towns are his key supporting cast.
Wide receiver Hank Beatty, Rochester, Ill., 82 miles from Champaign, population 4,044 in 2024.
Running back Kaden Feagin, Atwood, Ill., 34 miles from Champaign, population 1,097.
And running back Aidan Laughery, Gibson City, Ill., 30 miles from Champaign, population 3,444.
Beatty, in his fourth season at Illinois, has had a breakout year on offense, totaling 617 receiving yards and becoming the only player in the country this season with a passing, rushing, receiving and punt-return touchdown. Feagin and Laughery have battled injuries but are crucial to the Illinois rushing attack, with 540 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground between them.
Their contributions to an Illinois team that enters Saturday’s game at Washington 5-2 and ranked No. 23 is something all three celebrate.
“You’ve got guys from similar backgrounds — central Illinois, smaller towns — proving that they can play at a higher level and impact games,” Beatty said. “I think we all have a sense of pride playing together and specifically for Illinois. There’s a lot of talent in central Illinois that might be underrecruited, and if high schoolers see me, Kaden and Aidan doing what we’re doing, hopefully that can motivate them to get their opportunity too.”
Their emergence together this season is not entirely coincidental.
Bielema grew up on a hog farm near Prophetstown, Ill., a small town not far from the Quad Cities, before going to play at Iowa.
He recalled when he was hired in December 2020 and first talked to athletic director Josh Whitman about building the Illini program. He stressed how he knew his way around not only Chicagoland, but also the western, central and southern parts of the state. How many big-time coaches could come in and know where El Paso, Ill., is?
Illinois coach Bret Bielema shouts at an official during a game against Duke on Sept. 6, 2025, in Durham, N.C. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)
At Bielema’s previous coaching stops — as defensive coordinator at Kansas State and head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas — in-state players were the foundation. And he was determined his Illinois tenure would be the same.
Of course that meant recruiting the best Chicago-area players who fit the Illini’s culture. But it also meant nabbing those on the fringes — because he had seen great ones find success at Big Ten schools.
“One of my main messaging (points) was if Illinois was going to be successful, it was going to be built on Illinois players,” Bielema said. “By pure volume there are so many more players in the Chicagoland area, but when there is a good one downstate here, we have to swing on them and we have to get them.”
That initiative started with Beatty, Laughery and Feagin.
Nearby beginnings
Illinois running back Aidan Laughery breaks free for a touchdown against Western Illinois on Aug. 29, 2025, in Champaign. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Laughery speculated you can tell a central Illinois guy by his mannerisms, how he talks.
“I’m not sure about that,” Feagin said with a laugh.
But there are shared experiences. Friday night football in their hometowns was revered.
Feagin’s brothers are 7 and 8 years older, and every Friday he couldn’t wait to get out of school so he could go to their games.
“I probably never really watched. I’d probably be playing football on the side with all the other kids,” Feagin said. “Those are core memories for me, being able to go to their games and hear their names over the announcements while I was on the side playing football.”
Laughery played the sport with his best friends from kindergarten through high school. Beatty played other sports growing up and especially was focused on soccer because his mom didn’t want him to play football as a youngster. But he eventually started playing in the sixth grade.
“Rochester is such a football town that everybody ends up playing football,” Beatty said.
Illinois wide receiver Hank Beatty is congratulated by Western Illinois defensive back Buju Aumua-Tuisavura after a 52-3 Illinois win Aug. 29, 2025, in Champaign. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
All grew up in towns where cheering for Illinois is the norm for many.
Beatty’s parents, both doctors, met in medical school at Illinois. Laughery’s aunt and uncle went to Illinois. Feagin was an Illini fan like many in his town. His father played at Illinois, though Feagin doesn’t have a relationship with the man who was sentenced to 90 years in prison for aggravated criminal sexual abuse for a 1995 attack on a woman in Urbana.
Their towns were all an hour or two apart, and the players were aware of the others growing up.
Laughery said he first heard of Beatty when Beatty received a scholarship offer from Iowa State. His interest — and maybe a little jealousy — was piqued about an area player receiving such an offer. He heard of Feagin earlier, in middle school.
“I had heard of a kid that was running super-fast times and was long jumping crazy, and I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’” Laughery said.
Feagin said he saw Laughery and Beatty in the state championships. Beatty won a Class 5A title in 2019 at Rochester, and Laughery won the 2A championship in 2018 at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley. Feagin credits Laughery for making him believe in the possibilities for his future.
“My high school coach is like, ‘This kid from Gibson City is starting to get some attention. I think you could get some offers too,’” Feagin recalled. “So Aidan really helped to get it in my mind, like it’s possible for a kid at a 1A and 2A school to get offers from big programs.”
For all of them, getting an offer from Illinois was a big deal.
Landing the pitch
Illinois running back Kaden Feagin reacts during the first half against Ohio State on Oct. 11, 2025, in Champaign. (AP Photo/Craig Pessman)
Feagin was on his way home from high school at Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond during his sophomore year when his mom called him crying, telling him to get to the elementary school.
“I’m like, ‘Oh no, what’s going on,’” he said. “She’s like, ‘Come to the grade school right now. There’s something really big happening.’”
Feagin arrived and his high school coach was on Zoom with Bielema. He received his first college offer of a big group that eventually included Michigan and Notre Dame for the four-star recruit ranked among the state’s top 10 prospects in the Class of 2023.
Illinois was recruiting Laughery before Bielema was hired. But Bielema zeroed in on him and Beatty after coming on board.
Bielema said he and his staff had intentional messaging for each player when they came for their visits — what to say and how to say it. Beatty and Laughery remember Bielema talking about building the program for long-term success with in-state players.
Beatty believed. He knew of Bielema’s past success and thought the coach had the right “edge” to him when he got on campus for a visit.
“He sold my class specifically on building the foundation for sustained success, and I think a lot of guys bought into that and that’s what brought us here,” Beatty said. “We wanted to make Illinois great, and we thought the coaches had the potential to do it. What Coach B was doing here, the culture he was creating, were all things a lot of us liked.”
Bielema pitched Feagin on those things — but also something else. He warned his assistant coaches, who might have been struck by Feagin’s physical stature (now 6-foot-3 and 255 pounds), not to veer from their pitch.
“I used to be a linebacker coach, (and) if I saw a good-looking kid that wasn’t a linebacker, I’d be like, ‘Hey!’” Bielema said. “You think you’re being real cool and it’s fun, right? But I literally said: ‘Hey, morons, literally no one jokes, teases and has a moment with Kaden or his family about playing tight end or playing outside linebacker. He’s a running back and he’ll play running back here until I say he doesn’t or until he tells me he doesn’t want to.’
“And I’m so glad we took that approach because I don’t think everybody else did. When Illinois wasn’t good, we got one of the best players in the country at the time with Kaden because of the way we recruited him.”
Illinois running back Kaden Feagin makes a spin move to rush for a touchdown against Western Illinois on Aug. 29, 2025, in Champaign. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Feagin said about seven or eight schools talked to him about playing a position other than running back, so Illinois’ approach was important. He also always felt like he was “their main guy” whenever he talked to them or went to visit, and the fact his mom believed the coaches were genuine people who wanted the best for him solidified the commitment.
A year earlier, Laughery was a three-star recruit ranked among the top 15 players in the state. He also was drawn to Bielema’s emphasis on relationships, and he was going to just post his commitment to the Illini on Twitter.
But his high school coach persuaded him to do something live on the local news. They invited young football players from the town to stand behind him as Laughery sat at a table with his parents and two hats: Illinois and Iowa.
Bielema, who tried to stay on top of Laughery despite thinking he might pick Iowa, was watching the commitment event from his couch.
“He invited in the whole damn city of Gibson City,” Bielema said. “So I was sitting there going, ‘Boy, this isn’t going to be good for all these people in Illinois shirts if it goes the other way.’”
Beatty was the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior quarterback at Rochester and a three-star recruit, but he didn’t have quite as many high-level offers as Feagin and Laughery. But Bielema said he knew even then that Beatty could make an impact for the Illini, though he wasn’t sure right away at what position.
“He had this personality to him,” Bielema said. “His demeanor, he was a very, very confident kid. Even when you were watching high school film, he let the game come to him. He didn’t try to force anything.”
Beatty’s parents urged him to consider Illinois seriously. It was, after all, less than 100 miles from home. Though the players found out when they arrived that, in some ways, it was a different world.
A big adjustment
Illinois running back Aidan Laughery (21) celebrates a touchdown against Ohio State on Oct. 11, 2025, in Champaign. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
For Laughery, the first wakeup call was the sheer size of Big Ten players — standing next to them and realizing, “I’m supposed to get that big.”
All three players came from successful small-school high school programs, but there was an undeniable adjustment when they arrived to play for the Illini. The athleticism and talent of their counterparts was eye-opening. The time management, including a full schedule of meetings, was also an adjustment.
“In high school, we just met as a team in our coach’s classroom and then went out and practiced,” Laughery said.
Beatty said his high school did a good job of running practices, but the attention to detail required in college was different.
“It’s just like another level of, ‘Man, you can’t waste two seconds out there,’” Beatty said. “If you’re standing around for two seconds, you’re getting yelled at for something.”
Feagin had visited Champaign for games, but moving into campus life was different.
“Going from such a small community to a school with like 70,000 students, all the people and how busy it is, it’s definitely a culture shock,” Feagin said. “The football aspect — the speed of the game, the way the practices were set up — it’s a big culture shock.”
The trio eventually made the adjustment, but all three have faced their own sets of challenges.
Feagin contributed the quickest on offense and was an All-Big Ten honorable mention selection by coaches as a freshman. But injuries to his shoulder and then hip slowed his first two seasons.
Laughery redshirted his freshman year in 2022, and his breakout performances came last season, including a 172-yard, three-touchdown rushing day against Northwestern at Wrigley Field.
Beatty played some on offense over his first three seasons, but his production was caught behind other receivers, including Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin. He began to make an impact in the return game last season with 310 punt-return yards, and that helped him build confidence as he prepared to take over as a go-to receiver this year.
“It definitely wasn’t fun,” Beatty said. “I don’t think anybody really wants to wait years to play. We all want to play and everybody is working hard to play here. You have to figure out how to navigate that, and that was a challenge for me, figuring out how to keep coming in every day and trying to get better.”
It helped, he said, that the players in front of him weren’t threatened by helping him figure out how to get better. He tries to pay that help forward with younger players.
“Maybe like two years ago, there was a point where he was like, ‘Do I have to go somewhere else?’” Bielema said. “He stayed here, stayed true to us, and we stayed true to him. And the rest is history.”
Community support
Illinois wide receiver Hank Beatty returns a punt for a touchdown against Western Illinois on Aug. 29, 2025, in Champaign. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Bielema has openly lobbied for awards consideration for Beatty this season, including before the Ohio State game.
“I get pissed as hell about the Biletnikoff that’s kind of giving us the shoulder about Hank Beatty because they’ve never had to consider an Illinois receiver,” he said then. “I’ve got to convince those people that what Hank Beatty is doing isn’t by chance.”
A week later, the Biletnikoff Award added Beatty to its watch list, and The Sporting News named him a Midseason All-American.
Beatty ranks second in the Big Ten in receiving yards behind USC’s Makai Lemon. He also has nine punt returns for 170 yards, most of that against Western Illinois when he broke Red Grange’s 102-year-old record by racking up 133 punt-return yards.
Feagin’s big game coincided with Illinois’ biggest win against USC. He scored a 64-yard touchdown when he caught a short pass from Altmyer and barreled down the right sideline. He has been dealing with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder, but Bielema said Monday that Feagin is on pace to play this week at Washington.
Illinois running back Kaden Feagin is pursued by USC safety Bishop Fitzgerald on Sept. 27, 2025, in Champaign. (AP Photo/Craig Pessman)
Laughery has been limited to four games because of an ankle injury, but he returned to rush for 50 yards and a touchdown against Ohio State.
All of them have felt the support from their communities as they make impacts for an Illinois team that had considerable preseason hype. Their phones blow up with excited texts and DMs.
“It just speaks to the vision Coach B has set for the program,” Laughery said. “In state, we want to keep those guys home. We were part of the first few classes that started that. It’s special for us to be from the community and be contributing and get all the support that we do.”
The proximity to their hometowns means they get in-person support too.
Feagin always knows a bunch of people at games. Beatty’s parents tailgate before every home game, and he stops by after the games to say hello to whichever friends and family members made the trip that week. Laughery and Feagin were on Bielema’s radio show together, and Laughery’s parents and Feagin’s mom watched from the audience.
It also means they occasionally can go home. Feagin has dinner with his brother every week in Tuscola, and sometimes he’ll go back to Atwood and Arthur and just drive around.
“Just to put it all in perspective where I’m at,” Feagin said.
Bielema would love it if he finds more players to take similar paths.
The in-state recruiting philosophy is about more than just central Illinois, which also produced Illini freshman wide receiver Brayden Trimble of Mount Zion. Bielema said there are opportunities to zero in on the Quad Cities — the home of All-Big Ten honorable mention safety Matthew Bailey — and further downstate too.
When Bielema first started, he hired former Metamora Hall of Fame coach Pat Ryan, who has Illinois high school football as “part of his DNA,” to head the program’s state high school relations. Each spring when the Illini hold a coaching clinic, Bielema tells the coaches he needs their support — and their players.
He said he receives texts and voicemails from high school coaches excited about the Illini’s recent success — and the opportunity to send their players there.
Illinois, which has a strong 2026 recruiting class committed, recently missed out on a pair of highly ranked 2026 tight ends from Dunlap and Mount Zion who committed to Alabama and Mississippi.
But the Illini plan to keep swinging — and they have the examples of Beatty, Feagin and Laughery to use as they do.
“It’s kind of cool to see them so close,” Bielema said. “I know it means a lot to those guys. Anytime you have a successful organization, it’s usually built from within, with people that surround that area and that community.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/23/illinois-hank-beatty-kaden-feagin-aidan-laughery/
