Tom Izzo provides update on Jeremy Fears' rehab, recovery

Michigan State sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears is apparently quite close to full go, according to Tom Izzo. And it’s a remarkable recovery for Fears, who was shot in the leg late in 2023.

As Michigan State takes a summer trip and gets the team together, Fears is set to join them. And Izzo shared a fairly positive update on where the former high-level signee stands in his rehab.

“He’s 99 percent, 98 percent,” Izzo said. His shooting’s still a little question mark right now, but as far as athletic — he got hit today and it was in the thigh and he gets sore when he does that.”

Izzo didn’t seem overly concerned with the vestigial soreness, though. At this point, it seems to be a matter of Fears managing whatever pain and discomfort he feels and there’s no risk of any notable injury.

“But it’s just a matter of, ‘I get sore when I get hit,'” Izzo said.

Michigan State pursued a medical redshirt for Fears

Izzo addressed the possibility of a redshirt for Fears during a press conference in February. He said that the program intends to start that process with him, even though they don’t know if he’ll use it down the line or whether or not the NCAA would allow it based on games played.

“Yeah. We’re going to try to do that,” said Izzo. “I don’t know if he’ll ever use it or need it. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”

“He’s somewhere in that one game, which, I mean, right now? We give a guy – I think we’ve got 40 year olds playing in some football leagues,” Izzo added.

As far as his recovery, though, Izzo shared that Fears has made significant strides. It doesn’t mean that he’ll be back on the court this season whatsoever but does indicate that he should have plenty of time to prepare himself for next season based on where his rehab is now.

“Jeremy has had unbelievable progress,” said Izzo. “He’s shooting now, doing things that I never thought he’d do.”

“There are some guys that are quick healers, some guys that aren’t quick healers. He is a tremendously quick healer. He was walking and now he’s doing a lot of stuff. He’s jogging, I think, underwater,” Izzo continued. “Does that mean he’s going to play this year? No. But does that mean that he’s really getting better, will have a spring and summer to get well and improve his skills? Yes.”