Colt Brennan
Colt James Brennan (born August 16, 1983 in Laguna Beach, California) is an American football quarterback at the University of Hawaii. He holds the NCAA Division I-A record for most touchdown passes in a single season with 58, as well as 25 other NCAA Division I-A records.
Brennan attended Mater Dei High School in California. He helped Mater Dei to the league championship in basketball as a senior. While at Mater Dei, Brennan was the back-up quarterback to Matt Leinart until Leinart graduated.[1] After graduating from Mater Dei, Brennan attended Worcester Academy in Massachusetts for a postgraduate year, where his primary targets were David Ball, now a wide receiver for the New York Jets, and Carl Elliott, the starting point guard on George Washington's basketball team.
Brennan originally joined the University of Colorado football team in 2003 as a walk-on. He spent the year as a redshirt.
On January 28, 2004, Brennan entered the dorm room of a University of Colorado coed uninvited and, according to the coed "exposed himself and fondled her." Brennan, who was intoxicated at the time of the incident, was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to charges of burglary and trespassing, but a guilty verdict for unlawful sexual contact was vacated by the court for lack of evidence. After the incident, which was caught up in the middle of the time when CU was flooded with other accusations of sex crimes and revelations of wild recruiting parties involving Colorado football players, Brennan was almost immediately kicked off the team
Colt Brennan joined Hawaii in 2005 and quickly grabbed the starting spot at quarterback. He started 10 of 12 games, the only games he did not start being against USC and San Diego State. Brennan either tied or broke 11 UH offensive records in what was a wildly successful first season with the Warriors. Brennan led the country in total offense yards (4,455) and touchdowns thrown (35). His 4,301 yards passing is the eighth-most in Western Athletic Conference (WAC) history. Against New Mexico State (Oct. 15), Brennan posted career-high numbers in passing yards (515), touchdowns (7), and pass completions (38). He also had nine 300+ yard performances on the season, including four 400+ yard games and a 515-yard performance.
Brennan entered the 2006 season as the undisputed starter at quarterback, was named to multiple award watch lists and was voted the WAC's preseason offensive player of the year. He led the nation in scoring and passing efficiency, finishing the regular season with a 182.8 rating, and completed 72.15% of his passes, the best mark in Division I-A.
During the regular season, Brennan passed for 53 touchdowns, one shy of the NCAA Division I-A single-season touchdown record of 54 (set in 1990 by David Klingler of Houston). On December 24, 2006, at the Hawaii Bowl, Brennan threw for 5 touchdowns to break the record. (Statistics accumulated during the postseason now count towards records.) The Warriors finished the season with a 11-3 record, placing second in the WAC behind Boise State.
Brennan finished sixth in the 2006 Heisman race, behind winner Troy Smith, Darren McFadden, Brady Quinn, Steve Slaton, and Mike Hart. During the season, Colt Brennan threw for 5,549 yards, 58 touchdowns, and the highest passer efficiency in America. According to Jones, "Colt is a money guy. Colt is what I said he is: the best college quarterback in America, and he proved it tonight." During a press conference on January 17, announced that he was returning to the University of Hawaii for his senior season. Brennan didn't feel he was fully prepared for the NFL and needed another year to get ready. Brennan will return to Hawaii as a Heisman front runner and one of the NCAA's most prolific passers. Rivals.com named him one of the top-10 quarterbacks going into the 2007 season.
Some of Brennan's achievements include:
NCAA record for most career touchdown passes (126). Achieved November 23, 2007.
NCAA record for most career touchdowns responsible for (141). Achieved November 23, 2007.
Tied NCAA record for most career touchdown passes by a quarterback-receiver combination (39 to Davone Bess). Achieved November 23, 2007.
NCAA single-season record for most touchdown passes, achieved in 2006 (58)
NCAA two-season record for most touchdown passes, (96 -- achieved 2006-2007)
NCAA record for passing efficiency (season), posting a 186.0 mark in 2006
NCAA record for most passing yards (two seasons) with 9,850 (2005-2006)
NCAA record for most points responsible for (season) with 384. (2006)
Three-time 2006 WAC Offensive Player of the Week honoree
Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Finalist, 2006
Second Team Walter Camp Football Foundation All-American, 2006
Walter Camp Offensive National Player of the Week (Nov. 4) and USA Today National Player of the Week (Nov. 7), 2006
2006 WAC Offensive Player of the Year
Hawaii's first quarterback to earn All-America status since 1978, 2006
Honorable Mention SI.com All-America, 2006
Finalist for the Manning Award, 2006
Honorable mention JC All-America
Brennan entered the 2007 season on a mission to go undefeated and earn a trip to the BCS. On November 23, 2007 Brennan broke the major college career record for touchdown passes, throwing five touchdown passes against then #17 ranked Boise State Broncos.Brennan threw the record-breaking #122 in the first quarter, a 6-yard TD out pass to Ryan Grice-Mullen to surpass the mark set by former Brigham Young University standout Ty Detmer in 1991. With the pass, Brennan also broke Detmer's record for most touchdowns responsible for with 136.[11] Brennan's Hawai'i team would go on to defeat the Washington Huskies 35-28 in the final game of the regular season to finish with a 12-0 record, an unprecedented undefeated regular season for the Warriors[12], finishing the 2007 season with a #10 AP ranking and a bid to 2007 BCS
Sugar Bowl against #4 BCS ranked Georgia.
The Sugar Bowl proved sweet for Fox, which started the new year with a win Tuesday in viewership and the adults 18-49 demographic.
Final results were not released by Nielsen Media Research until late after press time Wednesday, but the Hawaii-Georgia matchup averaged at least 12.5 million viewers and a 4.9 rating/11 share in adults 18-49.