Sad to hear about the passing of Warrior FB great Colt Brennan

Sad news to pass along. Former Hawaii’ quarterback Colt Brennan has died. He was 37.

He was such a charismatic guy. Interviewed him several times during his Warrior career when helping out the Star-Bulletin’s football coverage.

Reached out to Coach June Jones this morning, sending my condolences. He said “Mahalo. Sad day.”

FROM THE STAR-ADVERTISER

According to his father Terry Brennan, his son was a patient at a rehabilitation facility when he was found unconscious a few days ago. He died on Monday at Hoag Hospital in Newport, Calif.

“He was doing so well, the spark was back in his eyes, and he was healthy and doing great, and it happened,” Terry Brennan said.

The elder Brennan said his son was in the fifth month of an inpatient treatment program.

“He had been doing really (well),” Brennan said. “These guys were no-nonsense guys. It just got away from him. I don’t know how else to explain it. Maybe one day I’ll be able to explain it better.”

Brennan was named the WAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2007, when the Warriors won a WAC championship and finished the regular-season undefeated at 12-0. They lost to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in the final game of the season, the Warriors’ only BCS appearance.

He was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2007, the first  in Hawaii football history. In a game against Boise State that season, he became the NCAA’s all-time leader in touchdown passes ― one of many records he’d hold at the end of his storied career.

FROM HAWAIINEWSNOW

He and his then-girlfriend were involved in a car crash on Hawaii Island that left him hospitalized ― and changed, Brennan once said.

“All I know is I woke up, six, seven days later,” Brennan would later say on an episode of a TV show that chronicled the LA KISS, for whom he’d later play football. “I badly broke my collarbone, and on the X-rays it was just like (crack) all the way down my left side. I woke up and I was, and I still am, a different person.”

In recent years, Brennan worked to try and give back to local football communities, volunteering with the Kahuku High School football team and a number of other youth organizations across the state.