Colt Brennan gets walking papers

By Fred Guzman

You could say that Colt Brennan’s career as a member of the Washington Redskins is over before it ever really began.

Although Brennan technically spent two seasons on Washington’s roster after being selected in the sixth round of the 2008 draft, the former record-breaking star quarterback at the University of Hawaii never took a snap in an NFL regular-season game.

Brennan’s release was announced Monday, shortly after Washington acquired quarterback John Beck from the Baltimore Ravens for cornerback Doug Dutch.

Brennan showed some flashes of potential in exhibition games during his rookie season, but spent that entire campaign as Washington’s No. 3 QB behind starter Jason Campbell and veteran backup Todd Collins.

He then missed the entire 2009 season after undergoing hip surgery.

Following a disastrous 4-12 campaign, Washington cleaned house. Bruce Allen was brought in to run the front office. Mike Shanahan replaced Jim Zorn as head coach.

Gone, too, is Campbell, who was traded to Oakland after Washington acquired former Philly QB Donovan McNabb.

Brennan – a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2007 and who set a then- major-college record with 58 touchdown passes in 2006 — now must look for a new place of employment, either in the NFL or, perhaps, in Canada.

PAY-PER-VIEW: It will cost new subscribers on the Neighbor Islands $250 to purchase a pay-per-view package featuring 20 televised University of Hawaii sporting events, including all but one of UH’s 13 football games.

Selected basketball and volleyball matches also will be included in the package, which is operated by Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

The cost for Oahu residents will be twice that amount – or $500.

Only the Sept. 2 season opener against USC — which will be aired by ESPN – falls outside the pay-per-view offering. That means UH football fans must either buy the pay-per-view package or miss out.

UH athletic director Jim Donovan, anticipating some negative reaction, noted earlier this week that the current system has been around since 2002.

He’s technically right. But Donovan conveniently failed to mention that, in past years, most of Hawaii’s more attractive games – home or away — were regularly picked up by ESPN, which both cable and satellite customers can receive. An average of three UH football games were aired by ESPN over the past seven years.

Coming off a 6-7 season and with a slight bump in subscription fees, it will be interesting to see how the pay-per-view numbers hold up this year. Critics note that some areas don’t have cable service. And some fans subscribe to satellite TV, which does not offer the UH package.

Athletic department officials say they have fielded “few” complaints about the arrangement. I suspect that’s about to change.