Anyone who has been to Dave & Buster's knows the seemingly simple games of skills are not so simple at all.

It is why starting quarterback Colt Brennan has earned the admiration of the University of Hawai'i football coaches.

The coaches were not as much impressed with Brennan's gaudy statistics as a third-year sophomore last season — nation-leading 4,301 passing yards and 35 touchdowns — as they were with his consistency.

One of UH coach June Jones' pet plays is the bubble screen to the slotbacks, a pass that travels no more than 10 yards. It would be as easy as throwing a football through a hanging tire — that is, if the tire were moving diagonally in the opposite direction and 280-pound defensive ends were approaching at feeding-time speed.

"As much as the average person thinks that's an easy throw, it's not," said Dan Morrison, who tutors the quarterbacks. "It's a tough angle, a throw to the sideline, with the receiver running downhill."

Morrison said Brennan completed all 21 of those passes last season.

"It's a difficult play," Jones said. "On those type of passes, he's the most accurate we've had here."

And as much as Brennan uses the aw-shucks demeanor of having limited knowledge of the four-wide offense last season, his first at UH, in fact, according to Morrison, by mid-season Brennan was given as many plays as his predecessor, Tim Chang, the NCAA's career passing leader, had as a senior.

"He was doing pretty much everything Timmy was asked to do, and he showed he could do it," Morrison said.

And that is why entering Saturday's season opener against Alabama, Brennan is given more leeway than any other quarterback Jones has coached.

Jones has not tried to change Brennan's throwing motion, nor put the brakes on Brennan's willingness to scramble when all else fails.

In the four-wide system, the quarterback is instructed to go through his progressions — look at the first receiver, and if he's covered, go to the next, and so forth — before scrambling.

This Colt, the coaches have learned, cannot be harnessed, and Brennan often jetted out of the pocket after only a few reads.

"He does have a certain ability to improvise," Morrison said. "You want to be careful not to take that away from him. He's learning to stay within the system, because the system is very good, and it will help him. At the same time, we don't want to completely — and this is a bad way to phrase it — corral him. You want to utilize his strength. We want him to stay in (the pocket) longer, but we understand there will be times he's going to take off, and usually good things happen when he does."

Brennan said he and Jones reached a compromise last year. Jones held his right hand chest high and his left hand a foot lower. The left hand indicated Brennan's play-making level.

"I want to bring you here," Jones said, waving his right hand.

Jones emphasized that a completed pass covers more yards than a scramble, and staying in the pocket a second longer will open more options.

"He did a good job with me," Brennan said. "He had a lot of patience with me, as far as letting me develop into the system.

"I understand you've got to do what the system is asking you to do to be successful. I understand that. I was really trying hard. That's why this leeway came. Because I was trying so hard, but when I couldn't get it, I would go. Coach would be yelling at me, but we'd be going down the field together. He would scream at me to 'hit this guy' or 'hit that guy,' but I would pick up first downs with my scrambling or finding someone. Coach decided instead of taking that away from me, he would allow it, if I did it within his system."

Brennan also said he was pleased he was not forced to change his passing motion.

"People are judgmental about that," Brennan said. "They say I have a sidearm motion. I really don't. If you watch tape of me, I don't have a sidearm motion. I throw a little bit lower than the average guy. But there comes times in the game when you have to lower your arm to get a ball off. People will see me lower my arm to throw a ball. People will say, 'He's a sidearm thrower.' It's one of those things."

In 2005, Brennan was playing for his fifth team in five years. He is a 2002 graduate of Mater Dei High School. After that, he attended the Worcester Academy in Massachusetts, the University of Colorado and Saddleback Community College in California.

"I've been around," he said. "I've seen a lot."

Brennan opened the 2005 season as a backup to Tyler Graunke, his former roommate. By the third game, against Idaho, Brennan was the starter. By then, he won over his teammates. And it wasn't only because he buys pizza for the offensive linemen after each victory.

"Look at him, he's a pretty-boy from California," right tackle Dane Uperesa said, laughing. "Really, he's just a heck of a guy. He's a good leader. He has a leadership quality you don't find in many people. We let him take the lead of the offense, and we like to follow him."

In deciding to remain at UH for his senior season, center Samson Satele said he wanted to play another season with Brennan.

Last Friday, teammates Leonard Peters and Inoke Funaki invited Brennan to attend the Kahuku High School football game on the North Shore.

After practices, Brennan is among the most animated in performing the haka.

"That's our leader," Uperesa said.

Most important, Brennan joins Dan Robinson as the only UH starting quarterbacks in the past 16 years never to be booed by the home crowd.

Garrett Gabriel, who led UH to two thumpings of arch-rival Brigham Young; Michael Carter, the star of the Warriors' 11-2 season in 1992; Nick Rolovich, who led the Warriors to an 8-1 finish in 2001, and Chang were never embraced as warmly as Brennan.

Brennan has no explanation, and is hopeful — knock on wood — the affection will continue.

He offers only this: "I've grown up and I've played football for so long now. I love playing the game. I think, maybe, the fans enjoy seeing someone have fun. I take a lot of pride in football, and I love playing the game. People out here are very old school. They love the hard-hitting. Maybe they love to see me run, get laid out and pop right back up."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.