Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr.’s true freshman season was tragically cut short after he was shot in the leg last December in his hometown of Joliet, Illinois. Fears underwent surgery following the incident. Fast forward to November of 2024, and a healthy Fears is stepping up as one of the biggest leaders on this year’s MSU squad.
“(I) didn’t know if I was going to be able to play basketball again,” Fears said Tuesday.
“It’s really unbelievable,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said about Fears' recovery. “I mean there were some people, doctors, that were talking about, you know, ‘Would he ever come back to (basketball)?’”
Just over 10 months after a life-altering event, Fears has now made his first career collegiate start on Monday. He ended up dishing out eight assists in about 21-and-a-half minutes during MSU’s 81-57 win over Monmouth.
“It was great,” Fears said about getting the start. “It was something I dreamed of. Finally being able to make it happen — first year-and-half I guess you can say, technically. But just being out there to play a real game — the fans of Breslin, the Izzone, everybody being there to support us is just something I was waiting for since (my last game on) December 21st.”
“He had eight assists and he should’ve had 12 or 13,” Izzo said about Fears' performance on Monday night.
Fears is also doing it while being forced to adjust a little bit to the natural restraints caused by a gun shot wound.
“I mean, you can still see every once in a while (he is) not quite as explosive, but very seldom,” Izzo said about Fears. “I mean he’s making progress. Now it’s make up for the year that he missed and that’s going to take a little bit of time.”
Fears understands.
“Obviously, I know for the explosiveness, it’ll probably take a year — it will be some time for me to fully get back, but I’m slowly getting back and I feel like I’m getting better and better every day," Fears said. "Lateral quickness and speed, I don't think I have (a) problem ... I think I'm able to move well and do everything. Obviously, I would kind of say that explosiveness is kind of still the small part that’s almost fully there.”
Fears got on campus at Michigan State as a highly-touted four-star recruit ranked 38th overall in the class of 2023 by Rivals. It was easy to see why, as he averaged over three assists per game over his 12 appearances despite averaging just 15 minutes per game.
On Monday, prior to Fears’ eight-assist performance, Monmouth head coach King Rice watched Fears’ warm-up routine and how well he did while practicing passes. Rice was impressed with what he saw and praised Fears in his postgame remarks after the Spartans defeated the Hawks.
“(I started practicing passes) really last year,” Fears said. “It was really just trying to build a routine. Some coaches always talk about the great players and the good players always have a routine of something they do.
“So really just me coming out, I try to shoot a little bit, get some form shots and then I start working on my passing and ball handling. Obviously, I know that’s something I know I’m going to be doing a lot in the game, and just making sure my passes are trying to be perfect.”
It didn’t take long for Fears to show off his passing ability. Just four seconds into MSU’s 2024-2025 regular-season opening game against Monmouth, he found fellow guard Jaden Akins for an alley-oop dunk. That play helped spur Akins to tie his career-high of 23 points and Fears had his second-largest assist total of his career.
“I think overall I was solid,” Fears said. “Defended, got my teammates open shots, had some assists and I definitely think I can do more. Obviously, keeping (the assists) up the whole game and keep leading, making sure my toughness is there and just help my teammates every way.”
Fears could have had a lot more assists, as Izzo mentioned. The redshirt freshman recorded seven of his assists in the first half alone in 12 minutes of playing time. During that first half, Fears scored or assisted on eight of MSU’s 16 field goals. He just looked very comfortable out there.
Michigan State went to Spain over the summer to compete against several professional teams, and had two exhibition games leading up the regular-season opener. This experience helped Fears get comfortable playing with his teammates after missing so much time during his recovery.
“(The Spain trip this summer) was definitely a reliever,” Fears said. “Just being able to get out there, play as a team, mesh together, get used to them — and then the exhibitions helped a lot, going to Northern (Michigan) and then playing at home against Ferris (State).
“So just overall, being able to play together, and now, it’s not been like a first game. It really felt like a game six or seven for me.”
Fears and Izzo won’t have long to wait before Michigan State’s actual game two of the 2024-2025 campaign. The Spartans will look to improve to 2-0 against Niagara on Thursday. That game will start at 8 p.m. Eastern Time and will be on the Big Ten Network.
“I’m good, excited,” Fears said. “(A) 1-0 to start the year. Long journey, obviously — (that’s just) one of our 31 games.”
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