Former Lutheran star Walt Hill Jr. is off to California to Prolific Prep: What does that mean?

Walt Hill Jr. is finished with his time at Lutheran High School, and has his high school degree to show for it.

But Hill, who won the Rockford Register Star's boys basketball player of the year award at the end of his senior season, is headed to Prolific Prep in Napa, California. Starting in September, he will spend six more months there fine-tuning his game before moving on to the college level.

More: Walt Hill Jr. Boys basketball: Rockford-area player of the year, all-area teams

"I believe that I have the skill set to play in college," said Hill, who was named second-team All-State in Class 2A by the Associated Press after his senior season. "But I need to get my body more ready, and there's some things I can work on."

So what is Prolific Prep, and what can it do for someone like Hill?

Here is everything you need to know about the school, and Hill's plans:

What kind of school is it?

Prolific Prep is a private school in Napa, California, where students in high school and beyond can continue their education while improving their game of basketball. They provide basketball instruction as well as academic tutoring, and they specialize in helping student-athletes who are looking to earn a college scholarship.

"We want to get them better, and get them seen," said Humphrey Jackson, the post-graduate teams' head coach. "And Walt is a guy we are excited to work with."

All of Prolific Prep Academy’s high school players attend Napa Christian Academy. But the school has two high school teams, and also has two post-graduate teams. Hill will be playing for one of the post-graduate teams, living in one of the two houses used for the post-grad squads, and he will take online college courses.

Why Walt Hill Jr. chose it?

Hill averaged 23.2 points and 4.9 assists last year after scoring 19.9 points per game and dishing out 4.7 assists. He had offers and requests to come play from several Division II and III schools — including Eastern Illinois University and Augustana College — but at 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, he and his family decided he could use another year of prep.

More: Lutheran's Walt Hill Jr. Rockford Lutheran's playoff run ends as buzzer beater comes up short

If it works out, Hill will start college next year as a freshman on the court and a sophomore in the classroom.

"My dream is to play basketball, and to keep playing, and this will help me get as far as I can," Hill said. "It was a pretty hard decision, but to achieve my dreams, this is what I need to do."

What does he have in store?

Starting on Sept. 2, Hill will move out to California and practice with other post-high-school-graduates twice a day. He will fit in his classroom work online just about every day of the week as well.

The teams travel to take on other post-graduate teams as well as junior college programs. This upcoming basketball season they will play in Canada, several stops in Florida, Virginia, and South Carolina, and also tourneys in Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

"He's a really skilled guard who can fill it up, and we will use these six months wisely," Jackson said of Hill. "And he's really going to benefit from our schedule, and what we can do for his game here... We figure we get them for six months, and we take that very seriously, and we want to make sure we hold true to our promise."

And that promise is an eventual NCAA Division I scholarship.

"We guarantee it," Jackson added.

"That chance," Hill said, "is all I want."

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Walt Hill Jr. is off to Calif. to Prolific Prep: What does that mean?