Brennan named Western Athletic Conference offensive player of year

 

HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan earned his second consecutive Western Athletic Conference offensive player of the year award, while coach June Jones was selected the conference coach of the year.
Brennan has thrown for 4,174 yards and 38 touchdowns in leading the Warriors (12-0) to their first outright conference title, an undefeated season and a berth in the Sugar Bowl against No. 4 Georgia on Jan. 1. The Heisman Trophy candidate also has eight rushing TDs.
“I missed two games and knocked out of two games,” he said. “I’m a little confused sometimes how I can get the WAC award when my receivers and my whole offense did what they did this year.”
Brennan said he was “not the deciding factor” in those four games.
“It’s hard to for me to sit here and accept an award when four of those victories we had in the WAC this year came from my other teammates,” he said. “I think it’s important they get recognized just as much.”
So in an unprecedented move, the WAC created a so-called “offensive unit of the year award.” It was given to Brennan and the starting receiving corps of Davone Bess, Ryan Grice-Mullen, C.J. Hawthorne and Jason Rivers.
“Once again, Colt impressed me with his unselfishness, and I told him I would do what I could,” WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said. “On the flight back to the mainland, I thought of this way to pay tribute to Colt and these four great receivers for the season each had and how they each contributed to the Warriors’ perfect 12-0 regular season.”
Fresno State linebacker Marcus Riley earned WAC defensive player of the year honors and Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick was named the freshman of the year.
This season, Brennan became the NCAA career leader in touchdown passes and currently has 131 in his three seasons. The senior from Irvine, Calif., was among 11 players from Hawaii named to the all-WAC first team.
Boise State, which finished second in the conference, placed five players on the first team, while Fresno State had four.