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Ex-Hawaii QB battles for Redskins job

No more superstar

By Corey Masisak (Contact) | Friday, July 25, 2008

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There is plenty of standing and waiting, lots of watching and learning.

Less than a year removed from being a college football rock star, Colt Brennan is now just another rookie fighting for a job in the NFL.

Gone are the wacky hairstyles and the endless interview requests. The days of being a cover boy for national magazines and a symbol of hope for the little guys in college football are no more.

Brennan has swapped his signature all-black duds at Hawaii, complete with matching helmet visor, for the simple burgundy-and-gold practice uniform and logo-less headgear of a first-year member of the Washington Redskins.

There are no braids, no facsimiles of the state of Hawaii in his hair anymore either.

"This [current look] is usually how I am. I'm not really a loud kind of guy in a sense," Brennan said. "I was kind of put on a pedestal out there in Hawaii, and I wanted to show everyone that I could have fun with it and embarrass myself. Right now I am just trying to get a job and play the game."

Brennan lit up college football for three seasons with numbers that would be unthinkable even in a video game. He tossed 58 touchdown passes - in his junior season alone. That was just one of 31 NCAA records he now owns.

After that junior season, some draft pundits pegged him as a first- or second-round prospect. He returned to Hawaii for his senior year, and all he did was lead the Warriors to a perfect regular season and a spot in a BCS bowl game.

It was a fairy tale, a story of redemption for a talented kid from Southern California who nearly ruined his life one intoxicated night in Colorado. Playing against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl could have been a coronation for Brennan's college career.

Instead, the Warriors were hammered, and Brennan had the worst game of his career. The doubters, those who said Brennan's spectacular production existed only because he played in coach June Jones' wild system, began to poke holes in his draft stock.