Even after I reached Montlake a good 90 minutes before the Huskies’ first spring practice of 2010, I was still shaking my head.

Clarence Trent in football?

Maybe it’s because I have a little more background on Trent than most reporters. Saw him star at River Ridge High in basketball as a ninth grader. Saw him put down two of the most incredible dunks in a state tournament with Gig Harbor High as a 10th grader.

Our Eric D. Williams wrote an in-depth story on Trent early in 2009 about the teenager’s travels to Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, then to The Patterson School in North Carolina.

Needless to say, Trent has bounced around.

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By the looks of it, No. 5 (Nick Montana) was getting most of the fanfare Tuesday on the first day of the UW’s spring camp.

And No. 17 (Keith Price) was clearly the more refined product.

At the outset of the five-week camp, coach Steve Sarkisian noted the competition between Price and Montana for the spot to back up star Jake Locker would be eventful and exciting – and a “battle that could go on for years.”

Even in day one, it was worth monitoring (audio of Price and UW receiver Jermaine Kearse below).

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My partner in crime, Don Ruiz, just informed me – through an airing of a Steve Sarkisian radio interview – that Tacoma’s Clarence Trent will be on the football field this afternoon for the start of spring camp.

To my knowledge, Trent never played football at River Ridge High, Gig Harbor High or The Patterson School in North Carolina (where they do offer football).

So … needless to say, it’s a bit of a surprise.

Glance at the UW basketball media guide, and maybe the signs of a switch were there:

• In the “Dawg Bytes” section, coach Lorenzo Romar’s …

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Here are 16 things coach Lorenzo Romar said today in his end-of-season press conference:

1. Isaiah Thomas and Justin Holiday are likely to emerge as leaders in the absence of this season’s captain and lone senior Quincy Pondexter.

2. Everyone other than Pondexter is expected to return, although Romar cautioned that he hasn’t yet conducted postseason interviews with his players.

3. Next season’s preseason schedule “won’t change a whole lot” — in terms of philosophy. However, next preseason is unavoidably different in that the Huskies will play in the Maui Classic with a field that includes Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan State, …

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Coach Lorenzo Romar met with the media for almost an hour today, wrapping up the season and looking ahead to the coming off-season and the 2010-11 season.

He covered a lot of ground, and I’ll pop some more onto the blog later. But here’s his opening statement, which was sort of an overview of the just-completed season:

“The last two months – winning always beats the alternative – but it was the way that we were winning. With the exception of a few games where we had a couple of setbacks I thought our group was really efficient, played with …

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For a change, UW football coach Steve Sarkisian showed up for a sit-down press conference Monday wide-eyed with rest, not jacked up on caffeine after an in-season, late-night meeting with coaches to discuss an upcoming opponent or game plan.

This time, he was relaxed. He was fresh-faced. He was upbeat.

And he’s ready to take another step in the turnaround of the Huskies program with the start of spring ball Tuesday at Husky Stadium.

“It’s good to have football back in the air,” he said to a throng of reporters. “Geez, it feels like it’s been a long time.

“If I could put a theme on this spring ball, it would be competition, because I think the competition is live and well at a lot of positions.”

Plenty of news and nuggets were revealed:

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The Huskies’ attitude in the losing locker room of the Carrier Dome last night was disappointed, but not crushed.

Other than Quincy Pondexter, every player in that locker room is likely to return next season, and there seemed to be a real feeling that they may accomplish more next season than they did this year.

Even coach Lorenzo Romar, no more than 20 minutes after the final buzzer, had this to say about the 2010-11 season:

“For once in a long time, we’ll have three seniors and three or four juniors. We’ll be an older, more experienced team. The success …

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It was a sad locker room last night in Syracuse. But Venoy Overton said he took consolation in knowing the team had given all it had.

There also was a nice wrap-up on the successes of the season — 26-10 record, Pac-10 tournament championship, Sweet-16 appearance — from forward Darnell Gant:

“It was a successful run,” he said. “The last two months were the most fun I’ve had in my life, and I’m glad to be a part of this with these guys. I love this group, man. These are all my brothers. We couldn’t get in done in the …

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