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Breaking records, whether it's an NCAA mark, Western Athletic Conference mark or a school mark, is commonplace for Hawaii's Colt Brennan.
The Warriors' 6-foot-3 190-pound senior quarterback has broken or tied 24 NCAA records, 66 school records, and 22 WAC records in his two-plus seasons at UH. He led UH to an 11-3 record in 2006, including a Sheraton Hawaii Bowl win over Arizona State.
Now, on the eve of a big WAC game Friday night at Nevada, Brennan has moved into a tie with former BYU star Ty Detmer for career passing touchdowns (121) and touchdowns responsible for (135).
"I haven't really thought about his (Detmer's) accomplishments," Brennan said in a teleconference Monday morning from Honolulu. "It's cool how he responded. I heard what he said about me and how he felt about his records being broken."
Right now, Brennan is more worried about his health. He suffered a mild concussion against Fresno State last weekend, and didn't practice Monday or Tuesday. He expects to play Friday.
"I haven't had any bad symptoms," Brennan said during a teleconference. "No headaches and I'm not dizzy. It was a clean shot and he got the best of me. I think I will play Friday. Right now we're taking it day by day."
Brennan wants to play because he knows how important Friday's game is. Hawaii is 9-0 and ranked 16th in the Bowl Championship Series standings. The Warriors need to win their next three games (Nevada, Boise State and Washington) and move up four spots to get to the coveted No. 12 spot, which is the promised land for a a non-BCS conference.
"I look at it as a great challenge," Brennan said. "I know coach Jones hasn't beaten them (in Nevada). I'm excited to get out there and put an end to that and get the win.
"I think we realized as the schedule unfolded we could have a chance to win every game. It's not easy. We made a commitment to do this. We made it through the first seven games by handling business. Basically we knew that the last five games we would have a chance to show how good we are. We can't lose a game or we fall out of the Top 25. We don't want to say anything now. We want to win our next three and then go come out and make arguments."
Given all the upsets in college football this year, the Warriors would have a solid case. They took care of business against lesser-known schools, something that Michigan failed to do earlier this year and that was followed up by Ohio State's loss to Illinois and USC's loss to Stanford.
A ROCKY ROAD
Brennan's road to success hasn't been easy. He attended five schools in six years - Mater Dei High, Saddleback Community College, Worcester Prep, University of Colorado and Hawaii.
Part of that stemmed from a felony conviction back in the summer of 2004 when Brennan was a redshirt freshman at Colorado.
Brennan, according to a story in USA Today, was accused of drunkenly entering a female's dorm room and touching her. Brennan was eventually found not guilty of indecent exposure and criminal intent to commit sexual assault. He was, however, convicted on felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass.
Colorado, already dealing with some other athletic-related issues, removed Brennan from the squad.
Brennan transferred to Saddleback, and had a successful season. However after that 2005 football season ended, Brennan's sentencing was announced. He admits that schools shied away.
"There was a lot of false information out there on the Internet and in the media," Brennan said. "It (the Colorado incident) was a big deal to Syracuse and to San Joe State it wasn't a big deal."
Brennan's cousin, Brent, was the recruiting coordinator at SJSU, which is obviously why the Spartans had no issue with him.
ALONG CAME JONES
That's when Hawaii entered the picture, and UH coach June Jones admitted that he did some background work on Brennan before coming out to California. He offered Brennan a chance to walk on, and the quarterback didn't hesitate in accepting.
"It (the recruiting) was hot and cold, and then it got cold," Brennan said. "Hawaii met with me and my family. I realized that they were going to give me a shot to win the job."
Brennan told reporters this past summer at the WAC Media Day that he was concerned how he would be judged. He came away pleasantly surprised and pleased that people accepted him for who he was and not on what they had heard.
"It was a breath of fresh air," he said. "I took a liking to the culture the last couple of years."
"He's fit in very well," Jones said. "He's been a very unselfish player and a good teammate."
And the UH fans love Brennan. There was a lot of applause and sighs of relief when Brennan, who threw for nearly 10,000 yards the past two years, decided to withdraw from the NFL Draft and return to Hawaii. It's the first place since Mater Dei that he spent more than one year at.
"I looked into it," Brennan said. "The season I had (last year). There were not a lot of quarterbacks in the draft, and there was a lot of interest; a lot of openings in the early rounds. I got my grade back from the NFL and it was good. It was really hard to sit down (and decide)."
Brennan had that taste of success, both individual and team, and he wanted more.
"I came to Hawaii wanting to crack the Top 25, and we got a chance to do that last year," Brennan said. "If I came back, we would be ranked even higher."
Brennan had to deal with Heisman talk last year, but that has died down quite a bit. He's been injured a couple of different times, thus his numbers aren't quite as good as last year.
"Last year I had a chance to go through it," Brennan said. "I didn't get included. I just wanted to have a good senior season."
He's done that as his 3,200 yards passing stats would attest, and he's a better quarterback overall, too.
"Colt is at a point where he could teach the system," said Dan Morrison, who coaches the UH quarterbacks. "He sees things that he didn't see before."
READY FOR NFL?
Still, there are some naysayers that say Brennan is a product of Hawaii's run and shoot system, and that he will struggle like David Klingler, ex-UH star Timmy Chang and Andre Ware before. Some question his arm strength; the ability to throw the ball vertically.
Gil Brandt told USA Today that he expects Brennan, who was projected as a second-round pick this year, to go in the first round later this spring.
Brennan, being the competitive fellow he is, certainly would like to shove it in the faces of people who don't believe in him.
"I think I'll be ahead because I understand the passing game," Brennan said. "The real adjustment will come in the speed of the game.
"I grew up running the West Coast offense. I know how to run a West Coast offense."
Jones has no doubts.
"He makes good decision, and he's a very accurate passer," Jones said. "He's gotten better every year. He' s a fierce competitor and a winner."
The Warriors' 6-foot-3 190-pound senior quarterback has broken or tied 24 NCAA records, 66 school records, and 22 WAC records in his two-plus seasons at UH. He led UH to an 11-3 record in 2006, including a Sheraton Hawaii Bowl win over Arizona State.
Now, on the eve of a big WAC game Friday night at Nevada, Brennan has moved into a tie with former BYU star Ty Detmer for career passing touchdowns (121) and touchdowns responsible for (135).
"I haven't really thought about his (Detmer's) accomplishments," Brennan said in a teleconference Monday morning from Honolulu. "It's cool how he responded. I heard what he said about me and how he felt about his records being broken."
Right now, Brennan is more worried about his health. He suffered a mild concussion against Fresno State last weekend, and didn't practice Monday or Tuesday. He expects to play Friday.
"I haven't had any bad symptoms," Brennan said during a teleconference. "No headaches and I'm not dizzy. It was a clean shot and he got the best of me. I think I will play Friday. Right now we're taking it day by day."
Brennan wants to play because he knows how important Friday's game is. Hawaii is 9-0 and ranked 16th in the Bowl Championship Series standings. The Warriors need to win their next three games (Nevada, Boise State and Washington) and move up four spots to get to the coveted No. 12 spot, which is the promised land for a a non-BCS conference.
"I look at it as a great challenge," Brennan said. "I know coach Jones hasn't beaten them (in Nevada). I'm excited to get out there and put an end to that and get the win.
"I think we realized as the schedule unfolded we could have a chance to win every game. It's not easy. We made a commitment to do this. We made it through the first seven games by handling business. Basically we knew that the last five games we would have a chance to show how good we are. We can't lose a game or we fall out of the Top 25. We don't want to say anything now. We want to win our next three and then go come out and make arguments."
Given all the upsets in college football this year, the Warriors would have a solid case. They took care of business against lesser-known schools, something that Michigan failed to do earlier this year and that was followed up by Ohio State's loss to Illinois and USC's loss to Stanford.
A ROCKY ROAD
Brennan's road to success hasn't been easy. He attended five schools in six years - Mater Dei High, Saddleback Community College, Worcester Prep, University of Colorado and Hawaii.
Part of that stemmed from a felony conviction back in the summer of 2004 when Brennan was a redshirt freshman at Colorado.
Brennan, according to a story in USA Today, was accused of drunkenly entering a female's dorm room and touching her. Brennan was eventually found not guilty of indecent exposure and criminal intent to commit sexual assault. He was, however, convicted on felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass.
Colorado, already dealing with some other athletic-related issues, removed Brennan from the squad.
Brennan transferred to Saddleback, and had a successful season. However after that 2005 football season ended, Brennan's sentencing was announced. He admits that schools shied away.
"There was a lot of false information out there on the Internet and in the media," Brennan said. "It (the Colorado incident) was a big deal to Syracuse and to San Joe State it wasn't a big deal."
Brennan's cousin, Brent, was the recruiting coordinator at SJSU, which is obviously why the Spartans had no issue with him.
ALONG CAME JONES
That's when Hawaii entered the picture, and UH coach June Jones admitted that he did some background work on Brennan before coming out to California. He offered Brennan a chance to walk on, and the quarterback didn't hesitate in accepting.
"It (the recruiting) was hot and cold, and then it got cold," Brennan said. "Hawaii met with me and my family. I realized that they were going to give me a shot to win the job."
Brennan told reporters this past summer at the WAC Media Day that he was concerned how he would be judged. He came away pleasantly surprised and pleased that people accepted him for who he was and not on what they had heard.
"It was a breath of fresh air," he said. "I took a liking to the culture the last couple of years."
"He's fit in very well," Jones said. "He's been a very unselfish player and a good teammate."
And the UH fans love Brennan. There was a lot of applause and sighs of relief when Brennan, who threw for nearly 10,000 yards the past two years, decided to withdraw from the NFL Draft and return to Hawaii. It's the first place since Mater Dei that he spent more than one year at.
"I looked into it," Brennan said. "The season I had (last year). There were not a lot of quarterbacks in the draft, and there was a lot of interest; a lot of openings in the early rounds. I got my grade back from the NFL and it was good. It was really hard to sit down (and decide)."
Brennan had that taste of success, both individual and team, and he wanted more.
"I came to Hawaii wanting to crack the Top 25, and we got a chance to do that last year," Brennan said. "If I came back, we would be ranked even higher."
Brennan had to deal with Heisman talk last year, but that has died down quite a bit. He's been injured a couple of different times, thus his numbers aren't quite as good as last year.
"Last year I had a chance to go through it," Brennan said. "I didn't get included. I just wanted to have a good senior season."
He's done that as his 3,200 yards passing stats would attest, and he's a better quarterback overall, too.
"Colt is at a point where he could teach the system," said Dan Morrison, who coaches the UH quarterbacks. "He sees things that he didn't see before."
READY FOR NFL?
Still, there are some naysayers that say Brennan is a product of Hawaii's run and shoot system, and that he will struggle like David Klingler, ex-UH star Timmy Chang and Andre Ware before. Some question his arm strength; the ability to throw the ball vertically.
Gil Brandt told USA Today that he expects Brennan, who was projected as a second-round pick this year, to go in the first round later this spring.
Brennan, being the competitive fellow he is, certainly would like to shove it in the faces of people who don't believe in him.
"I think I'll be ahead because I understand the passing game," Brennan said. "The real adjustment will come in the speed of the game.
"I grew up running the West Coast offense. I know how to run a West Coast offense."
Jones has no doubts.
"He makes good decision, and he's a very accurate passer," Jones said. "He's gotten better every year. He' s a fierce competitor and a winner."
