Associated Press
by Craig Yamada – Staff Writer
When Coach Sark addressed the media on national signing day, he assessed his highly touted recruiting class and noted that his coaches always seek “guys that play basketball” due to their sheer athletic ability.
He stretched his recruiting as far as Hawaii and Southern California and focused as closely as Seattle for top talent. Little did we know, that his Seattle talent pool included someone playing across the parking lot in Hec Ed.
As the Husky basketball season began circling the drain during the second half against West Virginia, many fans logically asked themselves, “When does football season start?” For Husky forward Clarence Trent, it started today.
It was made official today that Trent is trying out for the UW Football team for the 2010-2011 season, and is expected to transfer over in the fall quarter from a basketball to a football scholarship with the intention of playing both sports at Montlake.
Trent had spoken to Romar earlier this season about the possibility of playing football for UW. Today that conversation manifested itself into reality as he slipped on a #97 UW Spring Football jersey during practice. Trent is looking to play DE like he did in high school during his sophomore year.
What does this mean for Clarence Trent’s scholarship situation?
Clarence Trent will be a dual sport athlete from here on out with football paying his way on scholarship. He will continue to play basketball for the Dawgs in the fall, but as a walk-on.
What does this mean for UW Hoops?
Although he won’t officially have the scholarships available until the Fall, Romar can confidently offer two more basketball scholarships before the national signing period ends on May 19th, as opposed to the lone scholarship he had to begin the day with.
What does this do for Romar’s recruiting strategy?
Romar Math becomes much simpler, and Coach can now be a lot more aggressive when approaching prospects Terrence Jones, Terrence Ross and Aziz N’diaye. Though some pay sites have suggested that academics could prove to be an issue for both Terrences, the idea of two open spots has to be more attractive to the Jefferson duo rumored to be seeking a package deal.
Although Romar is not the biggest proponent for these package-type deals, one cannot help but dream of these two helping to ease the loss of Q-Pon this year with their offensive potential. The seven-foot Aziz could also be that X-factor that helps us gain the dominant presence in the key we’ve missed. (More to come on recruiting soon.)
Will this be a common trend?
I hope not. As much as we all want to see an athletic freak like Clarence Trent wreak havoc on opposing Pac -10 QB’s, one has to remember the lessons learned from 2011 UW prospect, Tony Wroten. After tearing his ACL during his junior football season, Tony had to miss his entire junior basketball season in an effort to heal. Glad to hear Tony is back on the court again.
Players like Isaiah Thomas have also been rumored (via Twitter) to have wanted to play for the football team. Let’s just all hope I.T. will keep that Michael Jackson glove on his injured hand this offseason, and keep his feet off the football field.
Does Clarence have a legit shot to succeed in Football?
Although Sark said today that Trent has a lot of work to do, one cannot deny his raw athletic ability. Aside from MBA, Trent may possess the most well-rounded athletic ability on the team. As he rode the pine most of the season, we rarely got to see his talents on display. But make no mistake, he does have the strength to become a force on the D-Line if he learns under Nick Holt for a season or two.
How could this benefit our basketball team?
If Trent can gain more weight and strength as a result of this undertaking, he could prove to be a force next year on the hardwood. Remember Tony Gonzalez at Cal? I’m very interested to see how much tougher Trent will be in the post as a result next year.
What did you guys think about the news today?
Thanks for coming!
Tags: Craig Yamada
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I’m for it on all accounts. Everything you mentioned above makes this a plus for everyone, including Clarence. The reason I say that is because he is somewhat a tweener with his height and lack of ball handling/shooting ability. Of course that could be improved this off season with practice if he wanted to play more on the perimeter. However, our needs are inside and if Clarence adds bulk to his frame and overall muscle tone, we will have that Teyo Johnson/Tony Gonzalez type of player on the hoops squad. Kudos to the athletic department for finding a way to make this possible for a fine student athlete.
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I’m on board with this move because I honestly don’t feel that Clarence will be a major factor on the hardwood next year (and possibly even the following year) unless he develops a legit mid-range jumper. He’s a small forward size right now but doesn’t have the offensive game to play SF right now. He’s too small to really bang down low as a post player. Playing football will toughen him up, put some bulk on him and will transform him (physically and mentally) to be a post player. Even though undersized, he is athletic enough that he could still produce in the paint. I just don’t ever see Trent as playing the wing or SF position due to lack of consistent shooting ability. I suppose he could be used a Justin Holiday type and be more of a rebounder/defender. The big concern would be if his added bulk from football would slow him down or hinder his athleticism on the hardwood…If that were the case it would really limit his strengths as a basketball player. However, if he can maintain his explosive athleticism and put on 15-20 pounds of muscle, that would be a huge benefit. All in all, I just never really saw Clarence as a major contributor in basketball, especially with the current players and future players that Romar has. Until Trent’s JR and SR seasons, I doubt he produces a ton on the hardwood, so maybe this football thing is a good thing for him and for the programs. Plus, it’ll free up another basketball scholarship.
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With all the turnover in Pullman and the latest tweets from Reggie Moore, it sounds like he wants to transfer to UW. Would Romar do that to his old buddy Ken Bone? He almost became a Dawg before Gaddy fell into out lap, after sitting a year he could replace Overton as the backup PG…would he sit a whole year and take a reduced role to get out of Pullman? I would:)
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UPDATE TO ARTICLE: Looks like Bob Condotta made a clarification on the scholarship. If Trent makes the team in the Fall, Trent will be on a football scholarship. As of right now, we have one schollie open until Trent makes the team.
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What did Moore say that makes you believe he is interested in coming to the Dub?
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This package deal that’s been rumored about … how legit is it? It sounds like a twitter post gone viral. Every time I hear the rumor I cringe because I feel like it’s just gonna push some quality recruits away.
Unless you’ve heard this from a source other than another blog, it’d be nice to let this one die and let the chips fall where they may. I want the Terrences as much as the next Dawgs fan, but to just keep saying that they want a package deal when everyone is denying it is getting absurd.
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Moore isn’t transferring to UW. WSU wouldn’t release him from his scholarship, so he’d have to sit out two years. He’s already old for a freshman, adding a redshirt year and sitting out a season on top of that wouldn’t be something he’d be at all interested in, nor would UW want to tie up a scholly for two seasons with no production to show for it.
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Agreed. There won’t be room for him in two years with Gaddy, IT and maybe Wroten/Bell in the backcourt. Not an ideal scenario for Reggie.
You have to love Twitter.
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Hmmm… I’m skeptical that Moore wants to transfer, given his age and the success he had in his first year at WSU. But I’m even more skeptical that Bone wouldn’t release him from his scholarship if he wanted out. That will poison your recruiting down the road, and I’m sure Bone knows that. He hasn’t denied Thames his release, has he?
But if he really wanted in, I think you’d have to make room for him. Wroten and Bell are not commits yet, and who knows if they ever will be. Plus no way will either of those kids be better as freshmen than Moore (freshman all-american) would be as a third-year sophomore. And the Dawgs play w/ two PG’s on the floor 80-90% of the time anyway. You know Romar could find a way to make the numbers work, so if he was determined to transfer and wanted to transfer to UW, I think Bone would give him his release, and I think Romar would take him.
But I seriously doubt that Moore is going to transfer. He’s got it pretty good in Pullman.
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Release of scholarship is always conditional on where the player decides to transfer. WSU wouldn’t let him out to transfer to UW, but they would let him out to transfer to a team outside of the Pac-10. That will be made clear to Thames, Harthun and Brown.
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UPDATE TO ARTICLE: Looks like Bob Condotta made a clarification on the scholarship. If Trent makes the team in the Fall, Trent will be on a football scholarship. As of right now, we have one schollie open until Trent makes the team.
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