The Illinois Fighting Illini football program just added another local star on Wednesday in Simeon senior linebacker Reggie Spearman, as ESPN Chicago's Scott Powers reports. Spearman's commitment to Illinois expands the school's 2013 recruiting class to 17 names.
Spearman, a 6-foot-1, 218-pound linebacker, also received scholarship offers from Houston, Indiana, Minnesota, Akron, Ball State, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Western Michigan. Rated as the No. 47 outside linebacker in the nation and the No. 15 overall player in Illinois by ESPN, he's a solid local prospect for new coach Tim Beckman.
Under Beckman, the Fighting Illini now have six commitments to the football program from players within the state of Illinois. Keeping local players in-state is presumably a major priority for the new coaching staff, so it's nice to see some progress.
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