Jeremiah Fears realizes that his brother, Jeremy Fears, landing at Michigan State in the 2023 recruiting cycle created certain expectations about his own process. The four-star guard also realizes that those expectations were reinforced when the Spartans offered him his own scholarship back in June. The AZ Compass Prep star isn’t running from that narrative, but he also isn’t exactly sprinting toward it.
Below, Rivals catches up with the younger Fears brother to discuss his brother selling him on Tom Izzo’s program as well as other schools that have joined the early stages of his recruitment.
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IN HIS OWN WORDS
ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT’LL HE’LL END UP AT MICHIGAN STATE:
“I don’t really care about it. I see it as a compliment when people tell me they know I’m going there. I just take the compliment and don’t say anything. I’d just say that I have my own path and am going to take my time.”
ON IF HIS BROTHER IS RECRUITING HIM FOR THE SPARTANS:
“We talk a lot. We talk almost every day. I try to ask him what he thinks is best for me, he tells me the good parts about being at Michigan State, he tells me that [Tom] Izzo is a good dude that you learn a lot from. He says the senior guards help him, too. He tells me the program is a great fit and a good system.”
ON OTHER SCHOOLS IN THE MIX:
“I have a Providence visit coming up on Dec. 22. I should be scheduling Michigan, Illinois and Iowa soon.”
ON MICHIGAN:
“I’ve talked to a few different coaches there. They just tell me about their history and the success they've had. I want to go see everything.”
ON PROVIDENCE HEAD COACH KIM ENGLISH:
“He tries to help me as much as possible. He watches the games and tries to help me get better as a guard. I just listen to him when he tells me how I would fit and gel with his program.”
ON IOWA AND ILLINOIS:
“They are all saying the same thing as Michigan and showing me past guards.”
ON HOW HE DESCRIBES HIS GAME:
“I would describe my game as a play-making, high IQ scorer that also defends. I have some similarities with my brother; our passing, defending and ability to run a team.”
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RIVALS' REACTION
The legacy school should always be treated as the early favorite in cases such as this. That said, there are no locks in recruiting and Fears’ process may have its share of twists and turns before it reaches a conclusion.
For now, however, it seems as though Michigan State has an obvious leg up in the process. That could obviously change as the two parties contour to form opinions of each other, but it stands to reason that the Spartans will be included on Fears’ list until the very end.
