Here is a post by CK before this past draft. It was before Colt decided to stay in college. It should answer many of the questions people have about Colt. For those who don't know him CK is a fantastic analyst who watches a great deal of film. I may not always agree with him but his reasoning is usually sound and his facts are usually very accurate.
CK Parrothead (regarding Colt Brennan):
High School: As BigDogsHunt pointed out, he was Matt Leinart's backup. Did extremely well when he got his shot, was highly recruited and went off to...
Colorado: Where, as a freshman, he learned the West Coast Offense. Colorado ran into trouble off the girl kicker that accused several members of the football team of sexual assault and the coaching staff of ignoring it, and that's when he had...
Legal Trouble: Got drunk one night, entered a female's dorm room uninvited, and refused to leave. He was charged with first degree criminal trespass, burglary, sexual assault, and indecent exposure. The assault and exposure charges were quickly dropped but the burglary and trespass charges stuck. In light of Colorado's recent trouble they dismissed him from the team, and so he was off to...
JUCO: At Saddleback Community College, he was allowed to play from the shotgun on every snap (not really a pro style offense), and he completed 65.0% of his passes for 3,395 yards and 30 touchdowns in his freshman season. He caught the eyes of Mississippi, San Jose State, Syracuse, and...
Hawai'i: Because Colt was being sentenced the same year he played at Saddleback, the other programs backed off a bit and Hawai'i was forced to offer him at best an offer to walk-on without scholarship because they had just raised ticket prices and feared negative press. But that didn't change the fact that when June Jones studied his tape, he came away believing he had the potential to be the best quarterback he's ever seen. He told Colt that if he went to one of the other three programs he'd be a late round draft pick, but if he came to Hawai'i he could be the first quarterback taken in the NFL Draft. He said, and I quote, "If you don't have the courage to walk on, you're not the man I thought you were." Brennan accepted the challenge, and thus began his career...
2005: His first year playing in D1-A football, he completed 68.0% of his passes for an 8.8 yards per attempt average. He totaled 35 passing TDs and 13 INTs. He rushed positively 65 times for 319 yards. He was sacked 34 times for -165 yards, or once per 15 pass attempts. His interception rate was 2.5% (which is good)...
2006: He somehow found a way to step things up a few notches. God only knows how. He completed 72.6% of his passes for a 9.9 yards per attempt average. He had an NCAA Division 1-A single season record 58 touchdown passes, and only 12 interceptions. He took 26 sacks for -134 yards, which works out to one sack per 21 pass attempts. He rushed positively 60 times for 500 yards. His interception rate was 2.1% (which is also very good). In the bowl game he diced Arizona State up for 569 yards and 5 TDs with only 1 INT on 79% passing, which I have to say was...
Unbelievable: The quotes and accolades have been heaped. His 2006 season has openly been called "the best statistical season for a quarterback in the history of NCAA Division 1-A." June Jones has thrown down the gauntlet. He has, at various points, coached Jim Kelly, Warren Moon, and Jeff George. He said, and I quote, that Brennan "is as accurate as Jeff George, is as competitive as Kelly and Moon, and is more mobile than any of them." But who's going to trust June Jones? Why not trust...
Joe Tiller: The head coach of Purdue, who has studied hours of tape on Troy Smith, has faced Brady Quinn, and has coached Drew Brees. He played Hawai'i in the final game of the season and Colt Brennan led his team to a 42-35 victory. Afterwards, Joe Tiller walked up to June Jones and said a few simple words: "That's the best quarterback I've ever seen. Good luck in the bowl game."
Physicals: He runs about 6'3" and barely 200 pounds. Most agree he would need to put on some weight in the pros. But, being skinny is honestly the most overrated negative I've ever seen about a non-running quarterback. I don't know who out there is saying he doesn't have a good arm, because that's just hogwash. He's got a cannon. Better than anything Matt Leinart could ever put up. His accuracy is amazing and deadly, he throws with a 2 o'clock motion a little bit like Phil Rivers. He runs straight-line at about a 4.8-ish speed but that doesn't really capture his quickness or agility. He's very mobile and pocket savvy. For some reason everyone seems hung up on all these...
Comparisons: Timmy Chang, everyone knows, was the last uber-productive Hawai'i quarterback that got in the running for the Heisman. Want to know what I see when I compare Chang and Brennan? I see no comparison. I mean, aside from the physical skills which Chang clearly lacks and Brennan clearly has, you only have to look at the numbers quality to see your immediate differences. Chang never completed more than 59% of his passes in Hawai'i when he played there in 2003 & 2004. Brennan completed 68% in 2005, and 73% in 2006. Those aren't just numbers on a page! The higher completion directly led to better YPA for Brennan, and better offensive efficiency not to mention Hawai'i becoming ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 1993 and having a 10-3 record. Where Chang never had better than 7.1 ypa, Brennan had 8.8 and 9.9 ypa figures. The 58 touchdowns this year are just plain unbelievable. He broke the mark set by David Klingler in 1990. That's another name I keep hearing in relation to Brennan, and I just don't see that either. Yes, Houston runs an offense comparable to June Jones in Hawai'i but Klingler was a 57% career passer at Houston. In his best year, 1990, he had 58% accuracy and 8.0 yards per attempt. I really feel sorry for those people that think those are just numbers on a page. If you want to worry about a guy, worry about Andre Ware, who was a 63% passer with 8.1 ypa efficiency when he passed for 46 touchdown and only 15 interceptions.
Final Word: Don't be surprised if Colt Brennan comes out. Don't be surprised if he ends up giving Brady Quinn a run for his money. Draft season is long...we still have a full four months to go before the NFL Draft. The reason he's not being talked about as much right now is because, quite frankly, the draft coverage industry really have not digested him yet. They haven't digested the season Hawai'i has had yet. They haven't digested the fact that Colt Brennan just had the best season any passer in NCAA history has ever had, and may have polished off the best two-year career that any NCAA QB has ever had. They haven't digested Brennan's tangibles or his game tape, haven't had enough time to interview him, get a beat on his character, or talk to him about that awful night in Colorado. Once they fully digest his game film, and run his statistics six ways to sunday, then they will get him up next to the other passers in the draft at the NFL Combine and I think they'll see the same arm strength from Brennan as they see in Brady Quinn, probably will see better accuracy, and pretty soon everyone will start to ask themselves why have they basically exiled this guy to "system quarterback" status. It is well to remember that when Andre Ware and David Klingler did have superlative seasons like they had, they DID end up drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. Klingler went #6 overall, Ware went #7 overall. That, to me, suggests that Colt Brennan will do the same. You can't help but notice that this guy blows the doors off Ware and Klingler in the accuracy department, and has as June Jones says, the competitive spirit of Jim Kelly and Warren Moon with legs better than either.