Tom Izzo, MSU Basketball in Pursuit of Top Target, Brother of Spartan PG
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has his point guard of the future in Jeremy Fears Jr., one of the gems of the stellar 2023 class. Izzo is targeting 2025 point guard Trey McKenney hard, too. One name to look out for is 2025 point guard Jeremiah Fears, Jeremy's younger brother.
Fears was decommitted from Illinois recently, and since, Izzo has been in attendance to watch Fears and one can imagine Fears is quickly becoming a top priority. Fears all but confirmed it to HS Top Recruits on X, formerly known as Twitter.
2025 5⭐️ Jeremiah Fears (@jeremiahfears2) had a great performance yesterday against Oakland Soldiers!
— HS Top Recruits (@HSTopRecruiting) July 14, 2024
He put up 21 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists!
He says Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan St, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Michigan and USC have been in contact. pic.twitter.com/g4HlCv9us5
Fears decommitted from the Illini on July 1, with a written announcement on Instagram:
"First and foremost, I would like to thank the Illini nation for all the love and support they have given me and my family during my recruitment and after my commitment," Fears wrote. "I'd like to express my appreciation to Coach [Brad] Underwood and his staff for their open communication and trust in me as a prospective next great guard to perform at State Farm Center. Please trust my full intention was to enter Champagne in the class of 2025 and help contribute to the continued ascension in the [Big Ten conference]. With that being said, after further consideration and meaningful conversations with my family, I'll be reopening my recruitment and exploring other opportunities."
Many believe the Illini's addition of Will Riley, a versatile forward who can play guard, was a contributing factor to the decommitment.
247Sports lists Fears as the No. 7 combo guard in the 2025 class and the No. 37 overall prospect. Recruiting analyst Brandon Jenkins wrote that Fears "plays an entirely different brand of basketball" than his brother Jeremy.
"He is a smooth and confident scorer who has no problem finding his own offense within the flow of a game," Jenkins wrote. "A combination guard with a score-first mindset, Fears is at his best in a secondary ball-handling role where he can primarily focus on making shots and creating for himself off the bounce. He is talented with the ball in his hands and has a creative enough handle to break defenders down to get to his pull-up game. While he is smooth off the bounce, there are times when Fears can be loose with the ball through traffic. However, whether playing on or off the ball his ability to make shots makes him a player that needs to be accounted for at all times."
Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.
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MICHAEL FRANCE