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2016 defensive back Drake Spears decommits from Illinois

Illinois has now lost five recruits over the past two weeks.

By Jim Vainisi
Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports

Fighting Illini football has lost yet another member of their 2016 recruiting class. Late Friday night, three-star defensive back Drake Spears (Aurora, IL) became the fifth Illinois verbal to decommit from the program in the last week. The West Aurora high school issued the following statement from his Twitter account.

Spears, who's rated as the No. 41 overall prospect from the state of Illinois, committed to former head coach Tim Beckman back in June. Signing Day is fast approaching and it's unclear what Spears plans to do at this point, but his only other recorded scholarship offer at the time of his initial verbal was from Western Michigan.

Illinois' other decommitments over the past two weeks are linebacker Tim Walton (flipped to Syracuse), defensive lineman Josh Black (flipped to Syracuse), defensive lineman Antonio Shelton, and running back Kentrail Moran.

Illinois Football 2016 Recruiting Class

Prior to Spears' decommitment, Illinois' recruiting class was rated No. 68 overall and No. 13 in the Big Ten Conference by 247Sports. It's unlikely that the Illini will drop below Purdue (No. 14), but things have absolutely been trending in a negative direction. At this point, the only thing that can save Bill Cubit from a sub-70 recruiting class is one last strong weekend of official visits.