Joliet West’s Jeremy Fears Jr. signs with Michigan State

JOLIET – Jeremy Fears Jr. of Joliet West made it official Wednesday night when he signed a national letter of intent to attend and play basketball for Michigan State.

Fears committed to the Spartans last season while attending La Lumiere Academy in Indiana. With Wednesday being the first day he could officially sign his letter of intent, he got that off his plate and now can focus on his senior season with the Tigers, where he will share a backcourt with younger brother Jeremiah, a sophomore who already is attracting looks from major college programs.

Basketball runs in the Fears family. Jeremy Fears Sr. played for Joliet Township, graduating in 2004, and then Ohio University, and his sons have followed in his footsteps as basketball standouts. Joliet West coach Jeremy Kreiger is a former teammate and longtime friend of the elder Fears. It was that family connection that made Jeremy Fears Jr. decide to attend Joliet West for his senior year after announcing earlier this summer that he would attend Overtime Elite Academy in Atlanta.

After practice Wednesday night, Fears took center stage at center court at Joliet West’s gym. First, athletic director Steve Millsaps had some words about the 6-foot-1 guard.

“All summer, people were asking me if Jeremy was coming back,” Millsaps said. “I wasn’t sure, but I was hoping that he would. Anytime you get a player and a person the caliber of Jeremy Fears Jr. to stay at home and play for his community, it’s really special.”

Millsaps then turned things over to Kreiger.

“Jeremy is the ultimate team guy,” Kreiger said. “He is very humble. You would never know that he is a top-30 player in the country or that he has won two gold medals. He just doesn’t carry himself that way. He gets a lot of respect in the hallways at school.

“A lot of people like to talk about how well someone can shoot or how high they can jump. But you talk to any coach that Jeremy has played for or that recruited him, and they will speak to who he is rather than what he can do. That’s because he does things the right way, and he has a lot of character. He doesn’t talk much, but inside the four lines that make up the court, he is as competitive as they come.

“I played with Jeremy’s father, and to be able to now coach his son is something very special. Jeremy Jr. had the opportunity to play anywhere he wanted his senior year, but he chose to play for his community, right here in Joliet. That is something that will make him never be forgotten.”

After Kreiger finished, the Fears family – Jeremy Sr., mother Sekia, brother Jeremiah and sister Skylar – came forward and had photos taken with Jeremy Jr.

Fears Jr. chose Michigan State over Illinois, Michigan, Gonzaga and Connecticut mainly because of what he called “a family atmosphere.”

“They really have a family culture in their program,” he said. “Coach [Tom] Izzo said I will be able to come in and play as a freshman, but the thing I liked the most is that every time I visited the campus, it just felt like home.”

Fears Jr. said that his most memorable moment at Joliet West came during his freshman year in a game against Oswego East.

“The atmosphere was great in that game,” he said. “Their crowd was going crazy and so was ours, and we ended up winning.”

During his two-year hiatus from West, he said the thing he will remember most is playing in Spain as a member of USA Basketball’s U17 National Team, competing in the 2022 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup.

“That was great,” he said. “I got to see another part of the world that I would probably never have had the opportunity to see otherwise.”

Fears then said that he is looking forward to his senior year.

“What I am looking forward to most is just being out there with my teammates and friends,” he said. “Not only getting better on the court, but becoming a better young man off the court. I think we could have a really good season.”

Fears Jr., who plans to major in either sports management or sports medicine at Michigan State, said his father’s experience of being recruited by high-level schools helped him considerably in the recruiting process.

“My dad was a great help,” he said. “He had already been through it, so he told me what to watch out for and told me to do whatever felt best for me.

“I know I made the right decision. My family agrees with the decision. If it wasn’t right for me, they wouldn’t do that, so I am happy with it. Like I said, the campus there just felt like home.”