FORT WAYNE — After a one-year hiatus due for fairly obvious reasons, one of the premier grassroots events of the season returned this weekend, as the annual Bill Hensley Memorial Run 'N Slam tipped off in Fort Wayne.

Purdue 2022 targets Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith and Boilermaker priority Jalen Washington headline the event from a Boilermaker-interest perspective.

Some notes and video interviews ...

To this point, Gary West Side's Jalen Washington has been ranked in the thinnest of air based off potential more than anything else, due to his ample physical gifts and skill level to go along with them.

But he missed so much time due to injury his first two seasons of high school, he didn't have much of a chance to back those rankings up.

Now, coming off a solid junior season in which he led West Side to win an overtime game of the state finals after missing most of his sophomore season with a major knee injury, Washington looks like he's taking that step.

Friday night's opponent — Shining Star Sports — was little match for Washington's Meanstreets team and the result, a 30-or-so-point win, was predictable. But It wasn't as notable what happened as it was how Washington looked doing it.

"I feel like I'm definitely making a big step," Washington said. "I have a lot of big goals I want to get to and I feel like I'm just progressing every single day."