High school basketball: National rankings whiff on Joliet West sophomore Jeremiah Fears

When it comes to in-state prospects, we’ve done our share of nitpicking the national player rankings in recent years.

It took forever for national evaluators to appreciate Glenbard West’s Braden Huff in the Class of 2022. The 6-11 Huff proved his worth and is now a freshman at Gonzaga.

In the 2023 senior class, it has been a lack of national respect for Rolling Meadows star Cameron Christie. The Minnesota commit offers a package of production and a much higher upside than his national ranking would suggest.

It’s never too early to pick apart national rankings, and it’s easy to start a new campaign when talking about the Class of 2025.

Rankings for the sophomore class recently have been released or updated, and St. Rita’s Melvin Bell is the lone player from an Illinois high school who is ranked. The 6-4 guard, despite being out with an injury for the last five months, checks in at No. 59 on 247Sports’ list of the top 75 players.

Bryce Heard, a Chicago native who played his freshman year last season at Kenwood, has transferred to Montverde in Florida. He is a consensus top-50 prospect in the class.

At the top of the 2025 class is a familiar name: Cameron Boozer, the son of former Bulls player Carlos Boozer. The 6-7 sophomore from Miami is the consensus No. 1 player in the country in his class.

But one name absent from these early lists is the City/Suburban Hoops Report’s top-ranked prospect in Illinois in the Class of 2025: Joliet West’s Jeremiah Fears.

Let the hype for Fears begin because there is plenty of room on his bandwagon. He’s nowhere to be found in any national rankings, including 247Sports’ top 75 players in the class.

In fairness to those who rank players, it does take time to see young players, particularly Fears, who didn’t play for a high-profile club basketball team or circuit despite playing two age groups up. Nonetheless, with his trajectory, Fears will be a national recruit before it’s all said and done.

The 6-1 point guard is an elite prospect with an enormous upside. The appeal he brings with his smooth and savvy play with the ball in his hands sets him apart for such a young player. And that’s before he showcases his tremendous shooting range.

Fears puts a ton of pressure on opposing defenses with his natural scoring and passing instincts, and he will skyrocket up the national rankings soon enough.

Expectations for his sophomore season might need to be tempered a bit, however, with the return of his brother, Michigan State recruit Jeremy Fears Jr. The senior point guard is back at Joliet West after two years at La Lumiere in Indiana.

But with all the memory-making fun and success that lie ahead, the explosive numbers can wait another season for the younger Fears, who will share the heavy lifting this winter with his older brother.

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