The AfterGlow

Back from a family mini-vacation. I'm still all smiles about the Hawaii Bowl victory and what a great way it was to end a great season. Talk since I've been gone, on TV and in the newspapers, has been will Colt stay or will Colt go? Like Colt said on KITV, it's a good predicament to be in so he's not complaining. But it's still a tough decision. Stephen Tsai had an article yesterday discussing it.

"He'll make a decision on the 15th" of January, the deadline for underclassmen to apply for the draft, UH coach June Jones said.

Jones and Brennan had a meeting yesterday morning.

"I told him what I think," Jones said. "I have my opinion where he would go in the draft. I shared it with him. I'm not going to share it with anyone else."

Asked what he would do if he ran an NFL team, Jones said, "Yes, I would take him."

Brennan, who returned to California to spend the holiday break with his family, is expected to receive his evaluation in early January.

"After that, I'll sit down with my family and see what's up," Brennan said.

I'm sure he'll be hearing it from all sides leading up to the 15th. From his family, friends and people he doesn't even know. So with that, here's my short UH or NFL list.

Why UH?

• WAC Championship!
• BCS!
• Break more records!
• Already a 2007 Heisman front-runner!
• Lots of publicity for UH!
• Stay in Hawaii another year!
• More time to develop!

Why NFL?

• No reason.

Just joking. There's lots of reasons for Colt to leave early. I just don't want him to leave. Anyway, here are some reasons.

• He may get drafted high and get lots of money.
• NFL teams need QBs right now.
• Staying another year at UH doesn't necessarily mean he'll get drafted higher next year.
• Risk of injury.
• How the heck do you a top a year like this?
  
• He'll be 24 years old next year. That's like almost a quarter-century old!
  
• He can represent Hawaii in the NFL! Get an H logo tattooed on his face!
• He can donate money to UH!

Oh well. It's all up to him and his family now. He's already done a lot for this school and he's represented Hawaii well. Good luck to Colt!

The AP's Jaymes Song talks to various sports personalities around Hawaii about Colt Brennan's year.

Maui News sports editor Brad Sherman said Brennan being mentioned as a Heisman contender was impressive alone, especially because the Warriors face several obstacles to garner national attention such as “being dismissed as a product of a system and playing games that voters never see.”

Paul Arnett, sports editor at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, said: “Just to have somebody from the obscure Division I ranks make it into the Heisman Trophy race, plus be nominated for several other major college football awards, is truly remarkable when you consider where he was at the start of the season.”

KHON’s Kanoa Leahey said anytime a player is included among the college football elite like Brennan was, it’s a victory for all fans in the islands who are constantly told from the Mainland that Hawai‘i athletics are inferior.

“With Brennan’s success, there was an explosion of interest and fanfare, beyond anything else we saw throughout the year,” he said. “He is evidence to the fact that every once in awhile, Hawai‘i can taste what it’s like in the big time.

“The year 2006, in my mind, will always represent ‘Colt craziness.’”

Ferd Lewis writes that, hey, June Jones had a pretty good year too.

Indeed, in a year in which Chris Peterson led Boise State to the conference's first Bowl Championship Series appearance with an unbeaten team, Jones got the coach of the year nod from fellow coaches. In a season in which Tomey took the San Jose State program from rags to riches, Jones got the award in one of the WAC's most contested seasons.

It wasn't just the X's and O's, either, although if you glimpsed the Hawai'i Bowl sidelines a few times Sunday there was Jones scribbling routes and gesturing like an inventor possessed in coaching receivers and Brennan.

Rather it was the infrastructure. It was in recognizing before the 2005 campaign and in the course of it that things had to change. That more of a commitment had to be made to defense. That, blessed by the return of Nate Ilaoa, that UH had to make use of his rare abilities and run the ball more. It was in a dozen details. Most of all, not being resistant to change.

How can any UH football fan not appreciate what June Jones has brought to this program? Has Joe Moore offered his mea culpa yet? Hah! Anyway, a gigantic congratulations to June Jones and his coaching staff for a wonderful season.

From Tuesday's Star-Bulletin, Dave Reardon looks to next year and writes more about Colt leaving or staying.

It's debatable if spending next year on an NFL sideline would be more beneficial to his future than another season with Jones.

But athletic director Herman Frazier's mystery schedule (four nonconference openings) can't be viewed as one for the plus column.

Another season of throwing to Jason Rivers, Davone Bess and Ryan Grice-Mullins goes on the con-pro side. Rivers caught 14 passes for an astounding 308 yards Sunday -- a record for any bowl game.

"I don't know if our offense can be better, but I think it can be as good," receivers coach Ron Lee said.

Glanville has to replace three All-WAC players in defensive ends Melila Purcell and Ikaika Alama-Francis, and safety Leonard Peters. An upgrade at cornerback would help, too.

"All of a sudden in two years I have lost two outside linebackers, a strong safety, a free safety and two ends," Glanville said. "I hate college football. I'm going to go back to the NFL and try to get these 10 guys I'm losing."

Let's hope that Glanville comes back too! From Stephen Tsai's Warrior Beat post from Tuesday:

Jerry Glanville said he "problably won't know for a while" whether he will return for a third season as defensive coordinator.
"We'll see," he said. "Right now I have no plans."

Come back Jerry!

And from today's Warrior Beat post, some rumblings about the 2007 schedule.

There I was, sick as a dog, coughing out things that didn't look like any of the original 16 Crayola colors, when I got a call from a UH official yesterday telling me that UH was seeking to play USC in the 2007 opener. At home.
He also said a Division I-AA opponent was in the works, too. But I'd take the 2-for-1 if it meant I could hold my index and middle fingers in the V shape while playing the "Fight On" CD I bought at the USC bookstore. I don't even care for USC, but it irks the UCLA fans in the office, and sometimes it's good to start an office civil war.
And then I get this voice message from USC athletic department spokesman Tim Tessalone:
"We received a query from ESPN about the possibility of playing that game. Very preliminary talks. We haven't even addressed it here and don't plan to address it for a while. I would tell you it's probably 50-50 at best that something like this would happen. It's way, way premature to go down that road."

Well, it's still preliminary, but let's hope UH plays USC next year! And get well soon Stephen! I feel your pain.

And finally, here's some final 2006 season statistics from the Star-Bulletin for future reference. Years down the line, when your kids don't believe you, visit this link to show them what kind of numbers UH put up in 2006.