CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Warriors quarterback Colt Brennan, above, held up his degree yesterday during the University of Hawaii-Manoa midyear Commencement Exercise.
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‘I got a degree,
I’m all set’
Football star Brennan and fellow graduates receive their diplomas
He was the last in line of about 900 students waiting to accept their degrees at the University of Hawaii's commencement ceremony yesterday.
For 30 minutes he stood patiently at the Stan Sheriff Center, holding a piece of white paper bearing the name indelibly linked with Hawaii football's perfect season and national acclaim.
College of Arts and Humanities Interim Dean Thomas Bingham, who was reading off names from the graduates' white cards, presented Brennan with his degree by saying, "And Hawaii's Heisman, Colt Brennan."
At the end of a college career that had its twists and upsets, the Heisman Trophy finalist graduated yesterday with the hope to keep playing football long after taking his team to the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day.
"Just like everything this year, it's kind of been a surreal feeling," said Brennan, 24. "The feeling is priceless. I just went to the Heisman Trophy (ceremony); I went 12-0 my senior year. Those feelings and the reward I got out of that doesn't seem really to compare to the gratification of just finishing school."
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Noe Sekimoto was adorned with leis yesterday after the University of Hawaii at Manoa's midyear Commencement Exercise.
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Brennan graduated with a degree in communications, maybe to interview hopeful athletes like himself one day.
"I'd like to go play football," Brennan said. "The cool thing is, I just got a degree, so if football doesn't work out, I'm all set. I'll be just fine."
Despite being a graduate, he will still be eligible to play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans against Georgia after complying with a rule that says he must take six credits in his major during his last semester.
In silver ink, Brennan scrawled the football team's major achievements this year on his green cap: WAC Champions. 12-0.
He wore a gray shirt, board shorts and slippers underneath his green robe. He twirled his white tassel with his fingers when not cheering for other graduates or waving at his parents in the stands.
He sat in the aisle seat with friends and his teammates in the last row. When fans shouted his name to take a photo, he turned around and smiled.
He listened to a story from UH President David McClain about UH's first football team's first game in 1909. They were champions then, too, and won, 6-5, against their first opponent: McKinley High School.
At one point he mouthed to his parents, who flew in from Irvine, Calif., on Saturday, "You'd better be loud when you cheer."
When the time came, his parents' cheers were drowned out by the drums of UH's band and from the nearly 6,000 people in the audience who leapt to their feet and roared their applause.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Attendees clamored around Warriors quarterback Colt Brennan to get photos, video and autographs.
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