De Soto High School senior basketball player Jacob Jennings was named the Hy-Vee Five-Star 41 Athlete of the Week for the week of Jan. 25. Jennings received this award based on his performance at last weeks tournament in Tonganoxie.

“I was surprised. I had a decent tournament but I didn’t think [I would get] Hy-Vee Player of the Week,” Jennings said. “Somebody nominated me. I have no idea who it was or anything. But, Hy-Vee looked through all the nominations and looked at their stats and video and they said, even though I didn’t score a whole lot at the Tonganoxie Tournament, I had good numbers and they liked some of the highlights I had. So, the decided on me.”

Channel 41 News filmed the boys’ basketball practice on Jan. 26 and interviewed Jennings and head coach Matt Rice. The interviews were aired on Jan. 28.

According to Rice, “he had a great tournament. He did everything right. He was really efficient. His game scored points without having to shoot too many times. He had a lot of steals and blocks and distributed the ball well,” Rice said. “He works hard, he’s a tenacious defender, and he’s just playing really well.”

Rice believes Jennings deserved the award because of how much he has improved throughout the season.

“Every game, he’s gotten a little bit better. It’s fun to watch his confidence grow and his impact on the court for our team,” Rice said.

Jennings and Rice both have high hopes for the rest of the boys’ basketball season.

“I know we struggled early in the season a lot, but with [Jennings’] leadership I expect a lot better success in the second half,” Rice said.

Jennings hopes to continue playing basketball in college at a small school.

“I talked to a couple of the smaller schools like Division III schools … I’ve looked into MNU, St. Mary’s, Benedictine, places like that,” Jennings said.

Jennings looks forward to the rest of his senior season at DHS and his future in basketball.

“It’s always disappointing when we lose seniors. Every year, I will have seniors walk away from the program that have been in the program for four years, so it’s always sad,” Rice said. “But, with Jacob, we’re losing somebody who gives everything he has when he walks in the gym. He’s a role model and a mentor and a good leader. He’s the kind of kid you want to have in your program. So, hopefully we’ll have some younger kids and underclassmen step up and fill the void when he leaves, because there will be a void.”

You can view Jennings’ Athlete of the Week interview at http://www.kshb.com/sports/local-sports/high-school-athlete-of-the-week/de-sotos-jacob-jennings-is-the-hy-vee-41-five-star-athlete-of-the-week