Ferris has made just one appearance in the RaboDirect PRO12 - 57 minutes against Connacht - since returning from the World Cup and received a bang to the knee in Ulster's Heineken Cup victory over Clermont Auvergne.
Those victories over Connacht and Clermont halted a run of four successive defeats but Leicester themselves have made a bad start to the season with only one win on home soil thus far.
And McLaughlin believes the responsibility for securing a famous victory at Welford Road lies with the pack.
"Leicester are another fantastic side, but that's the European Cup," he said. "That's why we're all involved in this game - to play the top teams and Leicester certainly are one of them," he said.
"They've a great pedigree in this competition.
"We're looking forward to going to Welford Road; they've had a difficult enough start to the season.
"The Welford Road crowd is as good to them as Ravenhill is to us and we are expecting a tough and physical game, which will be nip and tuck.
"They have a top quality pack and we have to go there and play with intensity and passion, coming at them with all guns blazing.
"We need to put a big emphasis on our set-pieces as we know they are very much a set-piece side."
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