Ranked as the No. 27 2017 recruit from the state of Arizona, Horizon’s Jake Hess has felt the burden of being a multi-sport athlete at the high school level.

Hess, who checks in at 6’9”, injured his collar bone four games into Horizon’s football season. Unfortunately, it was a set-back him, especially in regard to his basketball season.

Many coaches like to see their star players participate in other sports during the high school year, mainly because it promotes staying in shape and staying active. Players who can stand out in multiple sports also tend to be great athletes, and that athleticism, when fostered and worked on year-round, tends to translate from sport-to-sport. And that was the case for Hess. He told Prep Hoops that he felt the experience he was getting during the football season would pay major dividends for his basketball season. Obviously a broken collar bone can derail even the most well thought-out plans, but Hess relays that he’s doing better now — only suffering minor annoyances.

“It hasn’t really affected it that much,” he said when asked how the injury has impacted his basketball season, if at all. “I couldn’t do anything live for the first week of tryouts and now it’s just super stiff sometimes. But I wouldn’t say it has affected my playing.”

The football injury obviously isn’t hindering Hess on the recruiting trail.

He reports that he’s receiving interest from multiple schools, including verbal offers from Phoenix Community, South Mountain Community and Mesa Community. He’s also hearing from Dixie State, which would be a solid offer if he can land it. The Trailblazers are a DII school, part of the Pacific West Conference.

As far as what’s important to Hess when he evaluates his potential options, he’s going to be looking to see how programs end up using their big men, something that’s obviously important to him as a center. Along with Horizon hoops, Hess has played for Arizona Power North. He’s been playing in two different offensive schemes — something that will allow him to be versatile at the next level — but no matter the scheme, he tells Prep Hoops that he’s always trying to lock in.

“It’s hard to say which one I like better (talking about offensive schemes), but whatever it is I go full-out for as long as I can, as hard as I can.”

That’s the type of attitude that will stand out to college coaches, so keep an eye out for Hess on the recruiting trail. His arrow is pointing up.