Jeremiah Fears is a 6’1” sophomore guard whose name will seem familiar to Illini fans. That’s because his older brother Jeremy Fears Jr. was an Illini recruit that ended up signing with Michigan State and will start his Spartan career when he suits up this November (2023).

Despite that history, his father Jeremy Fears Sr. thinks that Jeremiah is an excellent fit for the basketball style coached by Brad Underwood. Fears also feels the same way about the fit for his older son with the basketball style coached by Tom Izzo at Michigan State. His mission is to match up his sons with the right coaches to maximize their skills on the court and Sears Sr. feels Brad Underwood’s coaching style is perfect for Jeremiah’s game.

Jeremiah Fears has an outside shot that is ahead of his brother at the same stage. Like his brother, Jeremiah has excellent ball handling skills. Currently, he is playing up with the 17U Brad Beal Elite team and it is clear he’s competed with his brother on the court. As a sophomore on a junior based team, Fears is a good teammate, but he doesn’t defer to his older teammates.

During crunch time, Fears handles the ball. Against many bigger and stronger opponents (they’re a year older), Fears keeps his shoulders square to the basket. He doesn’t need to use his opposite shoulder to shield the ball from defenders. By keeping his shoulders square to the basket, this positioning allows Fears to see the whole court. When he sees the whole court, he can pass to anyone on the court, he can move to either side of the court with the dribble, and he can shoot the ball without having to take additional steps to set himself up to do so.

In addition to his ballhandling, Fears can shoot from deep and hit threes from as far as five feet behind the three-point line. More importantly, he didn’t force shots. At the end of the game against Meanstreets, he ended up at the free throw line. He hit key foul shots as the team won a close game in the final minutes. He’s shooting 87.5% from the free throw line. This is the exact type of player that a coach wants handling the ball in the last two minutes of a game.

Against JL3, Fears again handled the ball in the last few minutes of a close game. Instead of scoring, he had two critical assists. Both were threading the needle on a diagonal pass that found an easy layup for a teammate. He iced the victory with a block of an opposing three-point attempt. Fears is no one-trick pony on the court. He has the length and anticipation to play effective defense as well.

As a sophomore starting on an AAU team, the only real “issue” one can see is that he needs to gain strength. What player at that age doesn’t need to do that? Fears is only going to get better and better.

This season, Fears has averaged 9.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists in 20.3 minutes per game for Bradly Beal Elite.