Jacobs' Hofman plays, excels despite pain

Jacobs senior guard Nick Hofman had already lost one basketball season to a knee injury. He wasn't going to lose another if he could help it.

In a December practice the day before a nonconference game against Barrington, Hofman faced every recovering athlete's worst fear sudden pain in his surgically reconstructed knee.

The 18-year-old Algonquin resident had injured his left knee a year earlier in a holiday tournament game against Marian Central. He had jumped to make a pass, then heard the dreaded "pop" when he landed.

The pain was tolerable, so Hofman actually finished that game and two days later played the first half of a game against Prairie Ridge. However, early in the second half, "I tried to make a move and it buckled on me again," Hofman said. "That's when I went to see the doctor."

An MRI revealed a meniscus tear and a possible ACL tear, but the doctor couldn't know for certain if the ACL was torn until he performed the meniscus surgery. It turned out to be the worst-case scenario.

"My doctor found the ACL was almost completely torn, so he had to reconstruct that, too," Hofman said. "I didn't know it was both until I woke up from the surgery."

Losing Hofman for the rest of his junior season was a blow since he led the Golden Eagles in scoring at the time (13 ppg.).

It was an even bigger blow to Hofman's fiercely competitive nature.

"It was a such a traumatic thing for him because he was off to a really good start last year before the injury put an end to it," Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said. "Obviously, it would be hard for anyone, but Nick just really loves to play basketball. I don't know anyone who's put in more time than Nick has at working hard to become a good basketball player."

Hofman's penchant for working hard helped him rehabilitate the knee and get back on the court with the Illinois Magic AAU team by mid-June, six months after surgery.

He said he felt good, albeit a bit rusty. He soon regained confidence in the knee and was back at full speed by the start of the season in November.

Hofman was leading the Golden Eagles in scoring again when he felt another pop in the knee during the Dec. 13 practice. He returned to his doctor the next day and had another MRI done, but the doctor didn't see anything wrong. It was decided Hofman should test it out against Barrington.

He worked out before the game at Lifetime Fitness like he always does, lifting weights for an hour followed by an hour of shooting.

Things went smoothly at the start of the game. Hofman scored 10 points in the first quarter to stake the Golden Eagles to a 16-8 lead. Again, he felt pain in the knee.

This time he limped to the bench and pounded his fist into a chair in frustration. He missed the rest of the game, which Barrington rallied to win. But all was not lost.

Hofman returned to the lineup for the Jacobs Holiday Tournament two days later wearing a black brace to prevent the knee from "rolling," which was how Hofman described the instability.

He was given a cortisone shot and anti-inflammatories and played through what he described as moderate pain. And he played well. Hofman led Jacobs to three wins by averaging 19.8 points per game in 5 tournament games.

A more powerful MRI test was done on Christmas Eve and two doctors were consulted, yet the extent of Hofman's injury remained unclear. The doctors had multiple theories. Perhaps it was scar tissue ripping, or a slight meniscus tear that doesn't show up on the MRI or a smaller ligament strain of some kind.

The only way to know for sure was exploratory surgery, but Hofman didn't want any part of it.

"If they decided to go in and check it out, it could be two weeks or it could turn out to be a month, maybe more," he said. "I decided I didn't want to take the risk of missing a month, so we decided, no, I'm just going to play with it."

A fortuitous break in Jacobs' schedule gave Hofman two weeks off before playing next at South Elgin. Feeling stronger, he eschewed the brace and scored a team best 17 points in an impressive 57-45 victory.

The points have kept coming for Hofman since, and the wins keep coming for Jacobs. The Golden Eagles have won three straight road games at Huntley, Cary-Grove and Dundee-Crown to take the outright lead in the Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference with a record of 12-8, 4-0.

Hofman's scoring average is up to 18.1 points per game, helped by a 31-point performance in the double-overtime win at Cary-Grove. He is shooting 35 percent from 3-point range (26 of 75), 55 percent from 2-point range (111 of 210), and 78 percent from the free-throw line (61 of 78).

"He's the kind of kid who hates to lose, and he puts every ounce of effort into it," Hinkle said "He's not naturally gifted. He's really worked hard to make himself into a good high school player."

Perhaps Hofman's most impressive statistic? He has turned the ball over only 30 times in 20 games despite a high number of touches.

"Taking care of the ball is important to us, and so is playing good defense," Hofman said. "We try not to give up many points."

Hofman said he occasionally "tweaks" the knee still, but the pain is nothing like the incident during the Barrington game. He avoids planting on his left leg while twisting to avoid a repeat.

The 6-foot-3 guard holds an unweighted grade-point average of 3.7 and has been accepted at Illinois State, Central Michigan, St. Ambrose, Dubuque, Millikin, Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan. Despite his competitive nature, he said there's a decent chance he may stop playing basketball after this year because doctors have warned him about the possibility he could become arthritic due to the pounding his knees have taken through the years coupled with multiple knee injuries.

But for now, nothing could stop Hofman from taking the floor for his third and final varsity season at Jacobs. Not even a little pain.

"I just decided I couldn't have another season where I just sat and watched the team play," he said. "It was a struggle last year having to just sit there and not be able to go out and battle with my team.

"I wanted to go out with a bang. As a team we want to do good this year. I just decided no matter what happened, if I could go out there and play I was going to."