EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. has been everything fans anticipated when he first committed to the program as a highly touted recruit.

Fears has been the team’s floor general and has been one of the main reasons the offense has flowed as well as it has.

The young point guard addressed the media on Monday, discussing the current state of the team, its upcoming meeting with Washington and more.

You can watch below:

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had spoken to the media earlier on Monday. Below is a partial transcript from his opening statement:

Izzo: “As I told you earlier in the year, I was hoping after Christmas, we’d to get a real good feel where everybody is. And I think we started to. We started looking at some teams that were struggling a little bit. Washington was one of them, and Oregon was one that was the other way. And then all of a sudden, Illinois goes out there and beats them by 30, and then Maryland, who was really playing well, goes out there and loses, too. I think it’s going to be hard on fans, hard on media, hard on coaches, hard on everybody to know this is going to be the norm, I think. Washington, after not looking as good, beat a good Maryland team, and then, it was a tie game last night with 30 seconds left and after being down big early. So, I think you’re seeing what I said early, that all these teams are good. Travel, different things, is going to make a difference in teams’ play sometimes. Right now, we return to Big Ten play with a, I think, an impressive win. I mean, there’s a team that beat Kentucky by 20 and has a very good team. We’re on the road, get a lead. Yes, we lose the lead, but we bounced back. … So, in a sick sort of way, does it make it better that we win in the way we did? Last 8 minutes of the game, we didn’t have a turnover after we turned the ball over a lot early. We executed well, we went on an 8-0 run ourselves, and I thought that spoke volumes about our team.”

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Michigan State football has two new assistant coaches, adding a defensive coach and quarterbacks coach under head coach Jonathan Smith.

The Spartans on Monday announced the hiring of James Adams from Wake Forest to work with their safeties. He will take over that position from secondary coach Blue Adams (no relation), who will assume former assistant Demetrice Martin’s role overseeing cornerbacks.

The school also confirmed Jon Boyer will is leaving Oregon State to coach MSU’s quarterbacks. Spartans offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren was responsible for the quarterbacks last season.

James Adams is a 16-year coaching veteran and Wake Forest alum who has been at his alma mater since 2022 under since-retired coach Dave Clawson. Adams began his career as a graduate assistant in 2009 with the Demon Deacons after winning two letters as a linebacker in 2005-06. He served as associate head coach and safeties coach with Wake Forest last season, and also has made stops at Purdue (2021), Navy (2020), Western Michigan (2019), Charlotte (2011-18) and Wofford (2010).

“James stood out during the interview process as someone who would be a great fit for our staff,” Smith said in a statement. “He has extensive experience coaching defensive backs and has been held in high regard on previous staffs with additional responsibilities as assistant and associate head coach.”

Martin, a former MSU star player and Los Angeles native, left his post as cornerbacks coach to take a similar role at UCLA, where he will be pass game coordinator and oversee the secondary. Martin worked under Blue Adams in his lone season returning to the Spartans after spending 14 seasons coaching on the West Coast.

Boyer moved to tight ends coach last season with the Beavers after Smith and the bulk of his staff left for MSU. Boyer spent the previous six seasons as the Beavers’ quality control coach and senior advisor on offense after serving as offensive coordinator at his alma mater Northern Colorado of the Football Championship Subdivision from 2012-17. Boyer was the Bears’ starting quarterback in 2000-01, then stayed there from 2002-05 and coached quarterbacks in 2004-05 before becoming offensive coordinator at Colorado Mesa from 2007-10.

“In having worked with Jon for several years at Oregon State, he has a thorough knowledge of our offensive scheme and what we’re trying to accomplish on that side of the ball,” Smith said in a statement. “He has strong relationships with our staff, and has done a great job throughout his career of developing and working with quarterbacks.”

As an understudy to Lindgren at Oregon State, Boyer worked with former Beavers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei as well as Aidan Chiles in 2023. Chiles returns in 2025 for his second season as the MSU starter.

That brings Smith’s coaching staff to 11 assistants, one more than the previous limit. The NCAA lifted those limitations in June, permitting any staff member to provide on-field coaching, but only 10 assistants and the head coach are permitted to actively recruit off campus.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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Associated Press

Michigan Wolverines (11-3, 3-0 Big Ten) at UCLA Bruins (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten)

Los Angeles; Tuesday, 10 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Michigan visits No. 15 UCLA after Danny Wolf scored 21 points in Michigan’s 85-74 victory against the USC Trojans.

The Bruins have gone 8-0 in home games. UCLA is 10-2 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents and averages 11.1 turnovers per game.

The Wolverines are 3-0 against Big Ten opponents. Michigan has a 2-3 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

UCLA’s average of 7.4 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.5 more made shots on average than the 6.9 per game Michigan gives up. Michigan averages 24.9 more points per game (84.1) than UCLA gives up (59.2).

The Bruins and Wolverines face off Tuesday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Tyler Bilodeau is scoring 14.5 points per game with 5.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the Bruins.

Vladislav Goldin is averaging 13.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for the Wolverines.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 8-2, averaging 75.9 points, 29.4 rebounds, 16.7 assists, 8.9 steals and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.2 points per game.

Wolverines: 8-2, averaging 83.6 points, 36.3 rebounds, 17.0 assists, 6.2 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 49.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.4 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.