Announcement: Kentucky Agree Deal To Sign 4-star Illinois decommit after being scouted at an event by Mark Pope

The top-40 prospect reopened his recruitment on Monday.

Kentucky still has one scholarship available for 2024, and they are still looking to use it.

On Monday, the Wildcats reached out to Phoenix (Ariz.) AZ Compass Prep 4-star combo guard and former Illinois commit, Jeremiah Fears.

“Just got a call from the Kentucky Wildcats,” Fears tweeted on social media.

Fears just revealed that he will restart his recruitment after committing to the Illini in January, choosing Illinois over Arizona, Creighton, Florida State, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Providence, and Tennessee, among others.

“Please trust my full intention was to enter Champaign in the class of 2025 and help contribute to the continued ascension BIG10,” Fears stated in a Facebook post. “With that being said, after further consideration and meaningful conversations with my family, I’ll be reopening my recruitment and exploring other opportunities.”

Fears (6-3, 175), who is currently regarded as the No. 33 overall talent in the 2025 class by the industry average 247Sports Composite, is expected to reclassify to 2024 and enroll in a school for the 2024-25 season.

Playing for the Indy Heat, Fears is averaging 17.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game on the Nike EYBL circuit this travel season. Fears also averaged 6.5 points, 2.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds for the USA team that captured the gold medal at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup in Buenos Aires, Argentina last month, an event scouted by new Kentucky coach Mark Pope.

Pope has already mentioned that his 13th and final scholarship will be a floating work.

“It’s still the same,” Pope stated last week. “I believe we had a good idea of where we were a few weeks ago, and it’s just been reaffirmed more than anything else. There could be a hundred various reasons why a 13th scholarship is appropriate. We’re still kind of floating with it, so we’ll see. This summer, we’ll be traveling extensively, including some international trips. There are always unique events that occur late. There are also some interesting things that happen late in the United States. So we’ll just play it by ear.”

 Scouting Report: Fears is the younger brother of Michigan State point guard Jeremy Fears but plays an entirely different brand of basketball. He is a smooth and confident scorer who has no problem finding his own offense within the flow of a game. A combination guard with a score-first mindset, Fears is at his best in a secondary ball-handling role where he can primarily focus on making shots and creating for himself off the bounce. He is talented with the ball in his hands and has a creative enough handle to break defenders down to get to his pull-up game. While he is smooth off the bounce, there are times when Fears can be loose with the ball through traffic. However, whether playing on or off the ball his ability to make shots makes him a player that needs to be accounted for at all times. He has all the needed variables to be a solid scoring option at the power conference level. – Brandon Jenkins