With the season fast approaching, it was time for UW QB Jake Locker to get a few final media responsbilities out of the way today --- his time will be a little more guarded once practices get under way.

So today, that means some sitdown interviews with a few of us in the local media, that in my case was mostly for longterm stuff that will appear in our college football special section and some other stories down the road.

But I also did a couple of short audio interviews with Locker to pass along now:

In the first one, he talks about the beginning of camp, how he feels this year is different than last season, how good he thinks the offense can be this season, what he wants to work on during camp, and a few other topics. Listen to it here (though I apologize for my stammering start): locker for blog.WMA.

In the second, he talks about his latest pet cause, UW Touchdowns For Kids, which benefits Children's Hospital. Essentially you can make a pledge to give a gift to Seattle Children's for every touchdown UW scores this season. Here is the audio: locker charity.WMA.

As mentioned, my interview with Locker --- who also appeared on KJR-AM today, talked to some other print media and handled a few photo shoots on his last media-intensive day of the off-season --- was designed primarily for longer-form stories that will run later (I may pass along some of it in this space later, as well).

But here are a couple of quick notes from our talk today:

--- He said the thumb surgery he had after the season was to take out a couple of pins that were no longer needed. He said the hand is healed now and that if anything, he thinks it will only help him pass a little better because his thumb should be even more flexible than it was last season. The pins were put in place to help with the recovery after his 2008 injury against Stanford.

--- He said he's right at his listed 6-3, 226 and that despite what's been a busier than usual off-season, he feels he's in the same shape he was a year ago heading into camp, when he felt he was in much better shape than he had been in 2008, when he spent part of the summer playing baseball and also had a different workout regimen than he does now. As Locker put it, he has "redistributed'' some of the weight in his upper body so he is not as thick in the chest area, which he says has also made him a little more flexible and he thinks has helped his passing motion. He said he didn't do anything different in terms of his workout plan this summer than he had last summer.

--- Glad to see that Locker also had some time today to go fishing.

All for now.