Brennan, 37, 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 surrounded by family members when he died. “He went peacefully,” Terry Brennan said. “He listened to Bob Marley. His sisters had a lei around him when he was unconscious. They had the music of Bob Marley playing near his ear.”
Brennan was the star of the Rainbow Warriors’ 12-0 regular season in 2007. He set several records and was invited to New York as one of four Heisman Trophy finalists that year. Brennan finished third in the voting.
It was Brennan’s announcement in 2007 that earned him “Colt” status. He announced he would forgo entering the 2007 NFL Draft and return to UH for his senior season. That announcement drew rousing enthusiasm throughout the state. That 2007 season, Brennan and his teammates became statewide celebrities. UH staged an autograph session in which lines to meet Brennan drew a line that snaked from the grass practice field to the parking structure.
UH’s undefeated season merited an invitation to the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in New Orleans in 2008.
Brennan was selected by Washington in the 2008 draft.
Years later, he suffered severe injuries as a passenger in a head-on collision.
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Colt Brennan embodied aloha
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Colt Brennan's pain
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10/10/21 - Carrera Shea offers hope
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10/25/21 - A call for understanding of drug addiction
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2/25/22 - Colt Brennan had stage 1 CTE
