HONOLULU After every home game, Colt Brennan waves to his probation officer as he leaves Aloha Stadium.

When a teammate needs a designated driver, he knows he can call Brennan, who, under the terms of his probation, is not allowed to drink.

When children in a juvenile detention center need a pep talk, Brennan always says yes. He reasons that words mean more coming from a convicted felon turned good.

Brennan, Hawaiis star quarterback, is on the cusp of what could be a transcendent season in his senior year. He is projected to make a run at the Heisman Trophy, and his coach insists that he will be the first quarterback selected in the N.F.L. draft. His strong right arm, combined with a soft schedule, have people around college footballs most remote program believing that Hawaiis chances of making a Boise State-like run to a Bowl Championship Series game are, well, not remote.

Those possibilities, for the player and for the team, are even more noteworthy considering the improbable, circuitous road that Brennan, 24, took to Hawaii.

Brennan backed up Matt Leinart in high school in Southern California, went 3,000 miles to a prep school in Massachusetts and was the fourth-string quarterback at Colorado as a walk-on before being arrested and thrown off the team. He then spent spring break in a Colorado jail during a year in junior college and landed at Hawaii only because a reporter showed an assistant coach there a film of one of Brennans junior college receivers.

The final twists in Brennans rise toward stardom and redemption may be the most compelling of all, however. If not for the anonymity of being a backup, the uncertainty of chasing a scholarship and the humiliation of wearing an orange jumpsuit, he probably would not have the thrill of a Heisman chase, the allure of being a possible first-round pick or the recipient of the affection of an entire state.

The consensus between myself and Colts high school coaches is that Colt is the person he is today and the quarterback he is today because of the path he took, said Dan Morrison, Hawaiis quarterbacks coach. I firmly believe he is who he is today because of the road he traveled.

Born to Throw

Terry and Betsy Brennan, who chose between Colton and Maverick when they named their son, said it was not long before they knew he would be a quarterback.

There is an autographed photo in the Brennanss home in Irvine, Calif., of the former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jim Everett that predicts Colt will be a future Ram. There is another of young Colt in a classic Hutch-brand Rams uniform, clutching a football.

Brennan began chasing his dream early, working with the renowned quarterback tutor Bob Johnson in eighth grade alongside a high school star named Carson Palmer. Jordan Palmer, Carsons younger brother, who is now a quarterback with the Redskins, remembers young Colt as hypercompetitive, talking trash through the most mundane passing drills.

When we played baseball against each other, Jordan Palmer recalled, he was the kid standing on second telling the shortstop about how hed steal third.

Brennan attended Mater Dei, a large Catholic high school and state power in Santa Ana, in part, he said, for the chance to be part of something bigger.

His uneven journey to stardom began with Brennan playing backup quarterback on the freshman team, being the junior varsity starter as a sophomore and then Leinarts backup as a junior.

Colt loved football, Leinart recalled, stretching out the word love. You could just tell he was one of those kids who wanted to play and never wanted to give up.

In Brennans only year as a varsity starter, Mater Dei began the season 1-3, which kept him out of the recruiting limelight. There was one play that stands out from an early loss that Brennan said demonstrated to him just how all-consuming football had become in his life.

With Mater Dei trailing late in a close game, Brennan lined up for a fourth-and-14. He remembers hearing the crowd noise pulsate through his helmet, feeling the pressure swirl through his head, the significance of the moment overwhelming him. Convert the down and Mater Dei could score and win. Lose and he would be the focal point of Mater Deis poor start. He skipped the ball to the turf, the crowd groaned and Brennans world collapsed.

I loved the game so much, that it controlled my whole life, Brennan said. My whole life revolved around football. When I did good in football, I was happy. If I wasnt doing good in football, I was miserable.

A Winding Road

After graduating from Mater Dei in 2002, Brennan spent a postgraduate year at Worcester Academy, a prep school in Massachusetts. That fall, he tossed touchdowns to David Ball, who later broke Jerry Rices Division I-AA record for receiving touchdowns at New Hampshire, and Carl Elliott, who became George Washingtons starting point guard.

But Brennan could not muster much serious attention beyond Utah State, which had offered him a scholarship out of high school and did so again after his prep season. Instead, he decided to attend Colorado as an invited walk-on.

The former Colorado coach Gary Barnett recalled Brennan running the starters ragged while quarterbacking the scout team in practice, playing with an enthusiasm that earned him the nickname Johnny All-American.

Brennan said, I had dreams of earning a scholarship and someday starting.

But one night in January 2004, Brennans world went spinning. After a night of drinking, he was accused of sexual assault, indecent exposure, burglary and criminal trespass by a female neighbor.

In September of that year a jury found him guilty of unlawful sexual contact, but three months later a judge dismissed the charge. Instead, Brennan was found guilty of second-degree burglary and first-degree criminal trespass for not leaving the womans room in a timely manner.

He was sentenced to seven days in jail, one night of which he spent with a cellmate charged with attempted murder. He also completed 60 hours of community service picking up trash on the beach and is currently serving four years probation.

What I did that night, I messed up, Brennan said. I made a major lapse in judgment. I was cocky. I was arrogant. But I didnt commit a crime. I had no bad intentions.

During the week of the incident, it emerged that sex parties had been held for football recruits at Colorado. It was unrelated to Brennans situation, but the incident was viewed through a prism of a program run amok, giving the arrest of a walk-on quarterback more publicity than it would have normally received. He was promptly dropped from the team.

I think, clearly, the circumstances and timing did influence the atmosphere and the trial, Brennans lawyer, Forrest Lewis, said.

During the uncertainty that followed for the next year, one thing became immediately clear to Brennan: His life would never be the same.

You could just tell instantly that hed changed, said Lindy Ferrise, one of Brennans close friends at Colorado. His voice changed, his demeanor changed. It was almost like he had to grow up in a split second. Here we were, freshmen in college, and he knew that his life had changed.

A Second Chance

Brennan left Colorado and attended Saddleback College, a junior college near his familys home. But as Brennan started throwing touchdowns and winning games, the story of the star quarterback awaiting sentencing for a sex crime gained traction.

As the publicity increased, so did the pressure on Saddlebacks president, Richard McCullough, to remove Brennan from the team. McCullough said he decided to treat Brennan as he would any student in a similar situation, allowing him to attend classes and to play until his sentencing. McCullough made his decision after a meeting during which Brennan showed him courtroom documents and the results of polygraph tests he had passed.

I went in there and I said, Please, this is all Ive got, Brennan recalled. He just looked at me and believed in me. It saved my life. All I had was football. It was all that was getting me up in the morning.

McCullough received letters of complaint, and pressure from the news media and the board of trustees, but he said: Ive been in this business going on my 45th year; I think I can read students. I knew he was telling me the truth. How did I know that? I listened, and I felt Colt Brennan was as honest as anyone Ive ever listened to.

At Saddleback, Brennan began to hit his stride as a quarterback. With the prospect of 12 years in prison in front of him, Brennan wasnt playing to earn a scholarship, he was playing to escape. He went at it with a relentless verve, figuring jail or no jail Saddleback would be his final fling with organized football. During the season, opponents taunted Brennan mercilessly. Some called him a rapist or said thats how the girl must have felt after a sack.

I didnt care anymore, Brennan said. If I got laid out, maybe I didnt have to go to court next time. It was a completely blind, fearless ambition to play football. These guys would lay me out, but I was just numb emotionally and, in a weird way, physically. All of a sudden, football became easy. All the fear was out the window. It was just about having fun.

As the pressure mounted, Brennan chose to sit out a game. He asked Saddleback Coach Mark McElroy if he could speak to the team. McElroy said Brennan spoke poignantly about living in the moment and relishing the opportunity offered by each play. McElroy said he and his staff were moved to tears.

It just reminded all of us why we coach the game and why were around young men that have a passion for the game, he said. Colt Brennan is one of those kids.

Brennan led Saddleback to the conference championship. He was named the states junior college player of the year, piquing the interest of some Division I programs. After years of making football his life, Brennans greatest success to that point had come only after football became his escape.

Fourth-and-14 is fun right now, Brennan said, referring to that fateful play at Mater Dei. It just happened. Football, when it didnt consume my life, it became much easier for me.

A Lucky Break

As with other stops in Brennans sometimes troubled journey, fate intervened to keep football in his life. A local radio reporter gave film of a Saddleback receiver named Jerard Rabb to Rich Miano, an assistant coach at Hawaii. But Miano could not take his eyes off the quarterback with an unorthodox three-quarter-arm throwing motion and pinpoint accuracy.

Other coaches at Hawaii were also intrigued. The head coach, June Jones, said Brennans quick release reminded him of Jeff Georges and Dan Marinos. So Hawaii invited Rabb and Brennan to visit.

Rabb chose Boise State and is best known for scoring on a hook-and-ladder play in Boise States upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. But Brennan fell in love with Hawaii and its laid-back vibe. He saw the island and the university as an opportunity to start over. When Jones sat on the couch in the Brennans living room and insisted that the Warriors run-and-shoot system so suited Brennan that he would be the first quarterback taken in the N.F.L. draft, Brennan believed him.

But there was a catch. Jones said Brennan needed to begin as a walk-on and stay out of trouble. Jones said he was trying to convince university officials to approve improvements to the stadium and did not want to risk irking the board of trustees with headlines about having given a scholarship to someone with Brennans checkered history.

Still, Hawaii is no stranger to taking kids with troubled pasts. Jones pointed out that the three best players he has coached there: Brennan, the junior wide receiver Davone Bess and St. Louis Rams linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa were either in jail or facing jail time when they signed.

I jokingly say we should recruit penitentiaries instead of JUCOs, Miano said, referring to athletes from junior colleges. Those three guys have not got into any trouble and have been model citizens.

Soon after Brennan arrived, in the summer of 2005, Morrison, the quarterbacks coach, advised him that the culture of the island valued humility and character. Having spent spring break in jail that year, Brennan hardly needed a humility check.

I had gone through a real embarrassing time in my life, Brennan said. I was humiliated and I needed to go find myself somewhere else. Hawaii had that appeal to it. It was my getaway, my escape.

So he kept his mouth shut and did his best to blend in. He took three semesters of Samoan as a way to bond with his offensive linemen, all of whom are of Polynesian descent. (Morrison beamed when telling of Brennan calling an audible in Samoan last year.) He dated a girl from the Big Island who grew up without electricity and running water, learning to spearfish on one of his visits there.

Brennan learned that in Hawaii, the best way to stand out is to try to blend in. He has gone so far as to braid his hair as a nod to his four starting receivers, who are known as The Dreadheads. And after nailing down the starting job after two games in 2005 and leading the nation in touchdown passes , Brennan was effusive in his praise for his teammates. He made sure to buy each of his linemen a large pizza every week during film sessions. He played with such flair and carried him himself with such humility that Hawaiians seemed to adopt him as one of their own.

Hes fallen in love with this place and this place has fallen in love with him, Morrison said. Thats not by accident. Its how he presented himself, how hes led, how he produced.

Giving Back

Success for Brennan has not come without demands. About once a week he visits a school, a detention center or a youth camp to speak about the importance of making good decisions and of overcoming adversity. He is in such demand that an athletic department official oversees his speaking and charitable schedule so that he does not become overloaded.

Brennans apartment in Honolulu is across from the Hale Hoomalu Juvenile Detention Center. Brennan is a frequent visitor and refers to Rita Bongo, the deputy superintendent, as Auntie.

When she saw Brennan on a recent afternoon, she gave him a big hug and kiss. She thanked him for the bag full of clothes he brought there after recently cleaning out his closet.

We think of Colt like family, Bongo said.

Miano said: I dont think theres been anyone in the states history who has had a larger platform than him. Whether its been an intermediate school, an elementary school or a high school to talk to the kids, he never says no. Hell sign more autographs and talk to more young people. Hes been the best spokesperson that we can have.

And he is the best player the university has ever had. After Hawaii went 5-7 in 2005, Brennan led the Warriors to an 11-3 record last season, completed 72.6 percent of his passes and set an N.C.A.A. record with 58 touchdown passes. He has broken or tied 17 other N.C.A.A. records.

After the Warriors Hawaii Bowl victory against Arizona State, the N.F.L.s notoriously conservative draft projectors the ones who said that Alex Smith, the eventual No. 1 pick in 2005, would go in the third round slotted Brennan as a high second-round pick if he were to declare for the draft.

Colt Brennan is better than JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn, Jones said, praising Brennans accuracy. Only time will tell, but I know what Im seeing, I know what Im looking at.

But for the same reason that Brennan chose to attend Mater Dei and crisscrossed the country in search of a scholarship, he chose to remain at Hawaii: to be part of something bigger.

The Warriors were winless in 1998, before Joness first season, and Miano said fans this year would be disappointed if the Warriors did not go undefeated. But Brennan stayed as much for the opportunity off the field as on it.

The coaches smiled at a quote from Brennans news conference when he decided to stay I like the person Im becoming at Hawaii calling his words mature and introspective.

This is my home, my safe place, Brennan said. I just wasnt ready to leave.

Inspiration in Scripture

When Brennan was on trial, he was Googling words, trying to find peace for his scattered mind. He stumbled across the New Testament passage Romans 12. It reads in part: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Brennan said the passage changed his attitude.

I dont need to worry about what anyone thinks, he recalled thinking. Ive got me. Ill show them. Ill get my revenge by becoming a great person.

Romans 12 also stresses not conforming to ones surroundings, which Brennan said he did while growing up in Southern California. Brennan said he expects to return to Hawaii after his football career to raise his family in a culture that he believes values children and not possessions.

Hawaii gave me the courage to live my life differently, Brennan said. When I grew up, I was the typical Southern California kid. I had all the South California ambitions: to make money, live in a nice house, have a beautiful girlfriend and all that stuff. It was Hawaii that made me say that money isnt important anymore. Friends and family and having people around you are more important.

Whenever Brennan sees a Bible, he looks up Romans 12. He says he has tried to live its words, with every autograph, every good deed and every bit of volunteer work.

I really hope that my actions, over time, will display not only the person I was, but help me clear up everything that happened out there in Colorado, Brennan said. Im not perfect, and I know Im going to make plenty of mistakes. But its all about the journey and what you are and what you do.

But for Brennan, whose path in football nearly ended three years ago, it appears that a season filled with Heisman hype and boundless promise may be just the beginning of the journey.

"August 26, 2007" wrote: