Bret Bielema Douglas C. and Linda M. Mills Endowed Head Football Coach | University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Website
Bret Bielema Douglas C. and Linda M. Mills Endowed Head Football Coach | University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Website
Illinois running back Kaden Feagin and tight end Cole Rusk have been named to the preseason watch list for the 2025 Comeback Player of the Year Award. The announcement was made by the College Sports Communicators in association with the Associated Press and the Fiesta Bowl.
The Comeback Player of the Year Award, established in 2018, recognizes college football athletes who have overcome injury, illness, or other circumstances. At the end of each season, a panel that includes college football writers, editors, and sports information directors selects three student-athletes as award winners at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.
Recent recipients include Ike Larsen (Utah State), Raheim Sanders (South Carolina), and Tyler Shough (Louisville) in 2024; Blake Corum (Michigan), Jacob Dobbs (Holy Cross), and Mike Hollins (Virginia) in 2023; as well as Laiatu Latu (UCLA), Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), and Mohamed Ibrahim (Minnesota) in 2022.
Feagin started five games for Illinois during the 2024 season before an injury ended his year. He averaged nearly 69 rushing yards per game and scored touchdowns in each of Illinois' first three games that season. His career so far includes 744 rushing yards on 162 carries with five rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown over his first fourteen games. Feagin was also recognized as an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by coaches during his freshman year.
Rusk missed all of last season after suffering a knee injury during fall camp but had previously been named to the John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List. Before transferring to Illinois from Murray State, he earned FCS All-America third-team honors and All-Missouri Valley Conference honorable mention in 2023 after recording six touchdowns on thirty-nine receptions for more than five hundred yards across eleven games.
Other Illinois players on national preseason watch lists include Luke Altmyer for several quarterback awards such as Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year; Tanner Arkin for John Mackey Award; Hank Beatty for Paul Hornung Award; J.C. Davis for Outland Trophy; Lane Hansen for Patrick Mannelly Award; Gabe Jacas for Lott IMPACT Trophy among others; Aidan Laughery for Doak Walker Award; Kenenna Odeluga for community service honors like Allstate AFCA Good Works Team; Xavier Scott for defensive awards including Bronko Nagurski Trophy.
"Since 2018, the Comeback Player of the Year Award has recognized college football student-athletes for overcoming injury, illness, or other circumstances. At the conclusion of each season, in a vote by a panel of college football writers, editors, and sports information directors, three college football student-athletes are honored as Comeback Player of the Year Award winners at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl."
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