Brennan eager to play in Canada

The next stop on former Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan’s comeback tour will be in a prairie city that is regarded as the Canadian Football League’s version of Green Bay.

Saskatchewan’s provincial capital — Regina — is defined by flat lands and enthusiastic football supporters.

"It’s the best and most diehard fan base you have out there in the CFL," Brennan said. "The analogy people give me is: Imagine going to the Green Bay Packers."

Brennan will depart his home in California on Monday to report to the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ training camp at the University of Regina. The first practice is on Wednesday.

For the first time since his final UH regular-season game, in December 2007, Brennan said, he feels physically fit. His two-year stint in the National Football League — as the Washington Redskins’ sixth-round pick in 2008 and the Oakland Raiders’ training-camp signing in 2010 — was marred because of separate surgeries to each knee and labrum.

Then in November 2010, he suffered multiple injuries in a head-on car accident on Hawaii Island. He had surgeries to repair a broken collarbone and a fractured eye socket. "My ear was almost ripped off," Brennan said.

He added: "I really got to learn the whole health-care system."

Brennan said he has been able to run and throw without discomfort. His breathless rat-a-tat speech has returned.

"I never felt this healthy, except for the two series with the Raiders (in a 2010 exhibition game)," Brennan said. "I’m excited to see what I can do when I’m healthy."

Darian Durant, who started 15 of 18 regular-season games at quarterback in 2011, will be back for his seventh Roughriders season. Brennan is among four American "imports" signed to compete for up to three quarterback berths. J.T. O’Sulllivan, 33, has starting experience with the San Francisco 49ers. Drew Willy was in the New York Jets’ camp last year. Levi Brown is a former Buffalo Bills seventh-round pick.

"I think they said, ‘Let’s bring in a bunch of young talent and let them fight it out and see which guy can definitely play the game," Brennan said.

CFL rules call for each team to have an active roster of 42 players. Three are designated as quarterbacks; of the remaining 39 players, no more than 19 can be non-Canadian ("imports"). A fourth quarterback may count toward the import limit.

The CFL’s version has three downs in which to make a first down and 12 players to a side.

"When you’re growing up in American football," said Brennan, who participated in a Roughriders minicamp last month, "you learn cover-3 and man coverage from day one all the way to the NFL. Now you’re trying to figure out what coverage they’re in. It looks like a cover-3, but there’s an extra guy out there. You have to learn all of the nuances of the game."

Brennan said the Roughriders have reserved apartments for the imports. "They said it’s like living in the dorms again," he said.

Last fall, Brennan reached an agreement with the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League. But the Colonials folded before a full practice could be held.

"When you’ve been away from the game for so long, it’s nice to be back in the mix of things," Brennan said. "This is what it’s all about."