End of the rainbow - Colt Brennan has shaken off a troubled past to become Hawaii's latest record-shattering quarterback. An NFL pot of gold may await.

Colt Brennan, he's been everywhere, man:

Laguna Beach, born there, 1983.

Santa Ana. Played quarterback at Mater Dei High, once serving as backup to Matt Leinart.

Worcester Academy, Massachusetts. One year of finishing school, although Brennan was far from done.

Colorado. Walked on, spent a redshirt year, got into trouble after walking drunk into a woman's dorm room, pleaded guilty to trespassing and burglary charges, spent seven days in jail, and was dismissed from the football team.

Saddleback College. Transferred there, led the team to a conference championship as he continued his image makeover.

University of Hawaii. Landed as a castaway, might as well have floated in on a raft, became a starter, and then a star. Tossed 93 touchdown passes in two years for the Warriors, developed into a pro prospect, learned to call plays in Samoan, learned to be a man.

"If football didn't work out, I was going to find a nice little hut and chill out for the rest of my life," Brennan said in rapid-fire cadence during a recent interview. "But then football worked out."

You could say that.

He finished sixth in last year's Heisman Trophy balloting and plans as a senior to kick it up a notch as Hawaii enters the season with a chance to earn the WAC's second straight bid to a Bowl Championship Series game.

Brennan opted not to leave early for the NFL despite being told he probably would have been a second-round pick. He turned 24 on Aug. 16 and returns to continue reworking the NCAA record book and his image.

"When I was going through a lot of the rough times, it was a very surreal moment for me," Brennan said. "And now going through all the good times, it's a surreal moment for me. It's kind of hard to fathom. Right now, you're taking it for what it's worth and trying to do it right and not mess it up."

On the field and in life, Brennan is trying to stand tall in the pocket.

He still has a reputation to live down. He knows character questions will haunt him again next year when he prepares for the NFL draft.

It's tough enough trying to convince the NFL that a run-and-shoot-system quarterback can make it in the pros (see Andre Ware, David Klingler, Timmy Chang).

Brennan is borderline NFL in size at 6 feet 3 and only 205 pounds, and the league's recent crackdown on bad guys makes it essential for Brennan to prove he's not one.