Sounding Off:

College football’s spring practice session ended this weekend with plenty of promise from the Pac-10.

The NCAA’s “conference of champions” had a tough 2009, going only 2-5 in Bowl games. USC and UCLA provided the lone conference wins, with the Trojans beating Boston College in the Emerald Bowl and UCLA knocking off Temple in the Eagle Bank Bowl.

The good news from Pac-10 camps is the improvement each team has made as they get ready for September. A total of 157 starters out of a possible 240 return. That includes seven starting quarterbacks. These are not your run of the mill signal-callers, either. Four are among the best in the nation.

Washington’s Jake Locker would have been a first-round pick had he declared after his junior season for the NFL draft. Locker is one of the best athletes in the college game, with a combination of size, speed, smarts and a terrific arm. Locker threw for 2,800 yards and 21 touchdowns last year and ran for another 388 and seven scores. NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana’s son, Nick — out of Oaks Christian High School in Thousand Oaks — had an excellent spring game Saturday and could back up Locker.

Stanford’s Andrew Luck could be a first round NFL pick if he comes out after 2010. Luck threw for almost 2,600 yards and 13 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman for the Cardinal in 2009 and the scouts rave about his skills.

USC’s Matt Barkley had an outstanding spring after throwing for 2,735 yards and 15 scores as a true freshman last year. Barkley lost weight to add to his mobility and the former Mater Dei All-American is a star on the rise in the college game. He threw for 11 touchdowns without an interception this spring before suffering a minor injury to his throwing hand in Saturday’s scrimmage.

Arizona’s Nick Foles threw for almost 2,500 yards and 19 touchdowns in his first year as the starting quarterback for the Wildcats. Kevin Riley returns at Cal, Kevin Prince at UCLA and two part-time starters return at Washington State.

It should be an explosive year for the conference with so many weapons returning on the ground and in the air. Three 1,000-yard runners will be back, including the conference Freshman of the Year on offense, LaMichael James of Oregon, who ran for 1,546 yards and 14 touchdowns. Two-time All Pac-10 performer Jacquizz Rodgers, who jetted for 1,440 and 21 TDs, is back for Oregon State and Washington returns Chris Polk, who ran for 1,113 as a freshman for the Huskies last season.

Six of the conference’s top 10 receivers return, including No. 1 James Rodgers of Oregon State, who hauled in 91 passes for 1,034 yards. This should be a season that lights up the scoreboard. The Pac-10 averages seven returning offensive starters per team. Last year only three schools — Oregon, Stanford and Oregon State — averaged more than 30 points per game. This year the Pac-10 could have six or seven teams average 30-plus per game. It’s going to be a fun conference to watch in 2010.

Phiznotes

I know this isn’t a sports story, but there’s a great group of kids making wonderful sounds in Orange County. The program is called KidSingers. They are an inner-city after-school singing program for grades 3 through 12 that draws children from Santa Ana, Orange, Garden Grove, Anaheim and surrounding communities.

The KidSingers performed at the St Joseph Auditorium in Orange on Saturday and supporters awarded more than $ 7,000 in college scholarships to the program.

With the California economy cutting back, athletic and music programs in our education system need programs like KidSingers. Their inspiring music can next be heard at 4 p.m. Saturday at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.

If you would like to help a great program that’s giving back to our youth, go to www.kidsingers.org.

OCLNN columnist STEVE PHYSIOC is a professional radio and television broadcaster, most recently for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and an Orange County resident.