Colt Brennan death: Former University of Hawaii star quarterback dies aged 37

Brennan had public struggles with alcohol after a brief career in the NFL

Colt Brennan joined the Washington Redskins (Getty Images)

Colt Brennan, a star quarterback at the University of Hawaii who finished third in the vote for the 2007 Heisman Trophy, has died aged 37.

Brennan died in hospital in California, his father Terry Brennan revealed. “He just spent one too many times on the dark side of life, and it caught up with him,” he said.

Brennan had public struggles with alcohol after a brief career in the NFL. He was drafted by Washington but never played a regular season game in his two-year spell.

June Jones, the former Hawaii coach whom Brennan initially turned down they NFL to play for one more season, said: “Colt was clearly the star of our program and what he did after the 2006 season by staying in school said a lot about him and how he cared much more about Hawaii and his teammates. That’s something that doesn’t happen anymore.”

The university said: “He was a phenomenal player and provided us some of the greatest sports memories we’ll ever have. But he was more than that. For all that he accomplished on the football field and the adulation he received for it, he always remained among the people. He never turned down an autograph, he never turned down a picture with someone.”