Being a point guard under Tom Izzo is not an easy job. Some of the greatest to ever do it in program history have played for Izzo and they would even tell you that it was an absolute grind, but well worth it.
The pressure an Izzo point guard faces each year is immense and some can cut it while others can’t. Through 2.5 years, however, it’s clear that Jeremy Fears Jr. is one of the guys who can cut it.
Not only can Fears cut it, but he has a chance to be one of the all-time greats at the position in Michigan State history, but he needs to take that next step in 2026-27. The pressure on his shoulders was already immense, but now that he’s been named the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, the expectations are essentially “natty or bust”.
As the Big Ten’s preseason player of the year, Fears is now expected to put the Spartans on his shoulders, especially since no other Michigan State player was named to the first or second teams.
The anti-Coen Carr propaganda needs to stop and he should have been named to one of the teams or as an honorable mention, but Fears has a pretty talented squad behind him that he needs to lead to not only a Big Ten title but to Izzo’s first Final Four in what’s coming up on eight years. He has to be the guy and the pressure on his shoulders is only getting more intense with the more praise that the Spartans receive.
Fears has been projected as the favorite to win National Player of the Year, too, but the Big Ten media voted on him as the league’s preseason player of the year which shows what experts are expecting.
The junior point guard has spent his entire career playing with pressure on his shoulders and he’s done nothing but live up to the hype and exceed expectations. Looks like he’s going to have to do that once again as the captain of a top-10 team with national title aspirations.
There are more factors adding pressure onto Jeremy Fears
While this Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year honor is huge and it shows how his hard work has paid off, he was already facing immense pressure dating back years to when Izzo compared Fears to Mateen Cleaves and said that he has a chance to be an all-time great.
If that wasn’t enough pressure, he faced more after his redshirt freshman season following an Elite Eight run and all he did was get better as an overall player.
Now Izzo is challenging Fears to become the Big Ten’s best defender. Not only are there expectations for Fears to win Big Ten Player of the Year, but his own head coach thinks he can also win Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. That’s a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in over 15 years as JaJuan Johnson of Purdue swept those two awards back in 2011.
Izzo expects Fears to be his next Cleaves and be the Big Ten’s best defender while the rest of the fanbase expects him to be the best overall player in the conference. Everyone expects a Final Four berth and a national title push, too.
To say the pressure is mounting by the day to immeasurable levels would be an understatement. We’ll see how Fears can respond to this.
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