Posted on: Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Junior college QB to walk on at Hawai'i
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Colt Brennan, a highly regarded quarterback with a controversial background, will accept an invitation to join the University of Hawai'i football team as a non-scholarship player for the coming season.
Brennan, who is attending Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, Calif., is scheduled to earn an associate degree in May, the last remaining hurdle to meeting the NCAA requirements for an incoming transfer.
He then will move to Hawai'i, where he will have three years to play two seasons.
"I'm grateful for the second chance," Brennan said. "I know I'm starting at the bottom, but I'm willing to work my way up, to show the community the type of person I am, that I won't ever be a problem."
The NCAA prohibits UH coaches and officials from commenting on walk-on players who are not enrolled in the Manoa campus.
But Brennan has earned national attention for serving a seven-day sentence after being found guilty of first-degree criminal trespass and second-degree burglary for a January 2004 incident that occurred when he was a freshman at the University of Colorado. He was accused of drunkenly entering a woman's dormitory room.
A Boulder, Colo., jury convicted Brennan last September. But during sentencing in January, Boulder District Judge Diane MacDonald threw out all convictions except trespassing (entering the room) and burglary (not leaving immediately).
"I was drunk, and I was wrong," he told The Advertiser. "I probably wasn't being a gentleman, and I made a mistake. No one should ever be disrespected that way. ... I was wrong in getting drunk and going into her room. I'm very, very sorry for that. What I did (that night) was morally wrong."
McDonald reduced Brennan's sentence to seven days in the Boulder County Jail. He served two days last month and the remainder of the sentence last week.
Under terms of his four-year probation, Brennan has to meet with a therapist, work 60 hours of community service over a four-year period, and write a letter of apology to be published in three Colorado newspapers.
The victim, who sought an apology but not more jail time, told the Colorado Daily Camera: "I hope he can use this as a vehicle to become a better person."
Colorado dismissed Brennan from the team last year after launching an investigation into the incident.
Last fall, he enrolled at Saddleback, where he completed 177 passes in 259 attempts (with four interceptions) for 2,532 yards and 23 touchdowns in nine games. Brennan, who is 6 feet 3 and 200 pounds, was named to the Mission Conference first team and selected jucaltransfer.com's offensive MVP.
In January, Syracuse and Hawai'i withdrew scholarship offers. But after the convictions were reduced, the UH coaches told Brennan he would be allowed to enter UH as a non-scholarship player. He will be reunited with former Mater Dei High classmate Julien Petit, a UH receiver.
"The past year, he's been through a lot," Petit said of Brennan's situation. "That isn't his character. That's why it was tough. He's a great guy, and he's got integrity."
UH coach June Jones has had a history of offering second chances. In 1999, he offered a scholarship to San Diego linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who served time in a juvenile detention center after being found guilty of felony assault. Tinoisamoa played three seasons for UH without any off-field problems, and now is a starter for the St. Louis Rams as a safety after being moved from linebacker.
This year, receiver Davone Bess, who had served 15 months at a juvenile detention camp after being found guilty as an accessory to a burglary, received a football scholarship from UH. Bess is taking classes at UH this semester.
"Hawai'i is good about giving people second chances," Brennan said. "I made a mistake, and I want to make up for it."
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.
