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Southern Utah guard A.J. Hess will be putting on a different uniform next season.
ESPN's Jeff Goodman reported Monday that the Thunderbird guard will be a graduate transfer and head to South Dakota State's program after being in the Southern Utah program since 2012.
Hess confirmed the report via social media on Monday evening.
Last year, Hess played in just six games for the T-Birds before an injury cut short his season. According to Ryan Miller of The Spectrum, former coach Nick Robinson said he suffered a fibular fracture. Hess was honored by the team on Senior Night.
As a graduate transfer, Hess will be immediately eligible to play for South Dakota State. The 6-foot-6, 210-pounder averaged 8.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game in 2015-16 and had 13 points and four rebounds in an 11-point loss to Utah in the season opener.
Since he played four seasons at SUU, Hess needs to receive a medical hardship waiver for his 2015-16 season from the NCAA to play for SDSU. NCAA rules state a waiver can be awarded if an athlete plays less than 30 percent of the season the year the injury occurs, which would apply to Hess this past season.
During his SUU career, he averaged 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. His best season came as a junior in 2014-15, when Hess started 27 games and led the team with an 11.7 points per game average while adding 3.7 rebounds per contest.
Email: bjudd@deseretdigital.com; Twitter: @brandonljudd