Reggie Spearman decommits from Illinois

As terrible as the football season has been the only bright spot had been Tim Beckman's 2013 recruiting class, which has been one of the higher rated classes in the Big Ten on just about every major recruiting site. Unfortunately that 2013 class took a hit this week.

Linebacker Reggie Spearman, who originally committed to the Illini in August, has re-opened his recruitment. Spearman was on a visit to Iowa this weekend, and he really liked what he saw during Iowa's loss to Purdue.

"The Iowa offer changed a lot, been thinking about a lot of stuff," Spearman told Recruiting Nation. "I'm at the point where I'm not even committed. Everyone has an equal chance to get me. Iowa opened my eyes a lot. I don't know where I'm headed right now, to be honest."

Damn it, Reggie. If you like seeing teams struggle to gain three yards on every offensive play and lost at home to Purdue, just take one more trip to Champaign this weekend!

Actually, what Reggie noticed at Iowa isn't something I think we can change here. Not right now, anyway.

"The fan support is definitely one of the best I've ever seen. Even being at Ohio State's camp, but [Iowa has] the best fan support and I don't think anyone in my opinion has better fans than Iowa, honestly," Spearman said. "The fact they don't have an NFL team in their city, they take their football very serious, and I take my football very serious."

Spearman, a linebacker out of Chicago's Simeon -- maybe we should have Groce talk to him? -- is a three-star prospect according to Rivals, and one of the higher rated players in Illinois' 2013 class. He's also the only linebacker that was in the class.

His loss is one that will be felt, but can also be overcome.