Deion Sanders and the entire Colorado football community received the devastating news of Dominiq Ponder’s death, who was a quarterback on the team. Ponder was involved in a car crash on Sunday while he was driving his Tesla.
The ex-Colorado quarterback was just 23 and was loved by all of his former and current teammates, as we saw Shedeur Sanders, Kaidon Salter, and Julian Lewis mourning his death.
As Sanders began his press conference on Friday, he gave a heartfelt statement on dealing with Ponder’s death, saying:
“Ah, it’s hard to say his dern name. We don’t send a kid to college not to come back, and that’s the most painful thing that I’m dealing with. This was a walk-on kid, that was a bona fide leader who ran our quarterback room up until his passing. We love him, we’re going to appreciate him, we’re going to celebrate him, and we’re going to focus on the positive things that he brought to us. He was one of my favorites.”
“We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to keep going,” Sanders said. “We’re going to love him, we’re going to appreciate him, we’re going to uplift him. We’re going to support the family, friends, loved ones, and everybody that associated with him. But we’ve got to keep going. Everybody’s dealing with something. So I want those kids, they’ve been wonderful. God have they been good.”
Sanders also highlighted that it is the first time for many of the Colorado players that they are having to deal with the pain of losing someone, which he has to respect, hence he is advising the coaching staff to push them on the field while also loving them “just as hard.”
Dominiq Ponder’s Parents Share Heartwarming Words On His Time Playing For Deion Sanders
Ponder’s parents, Catrina and Wendell, spoke to Daily Mail amid their grief and opened up about how Deion Sanders helped shape their son’s life.
Catrina said Dominiq spent more time with Coach Prime than he did with them in the past two years and called the Colorado head coach “one of the greatest men on this planet,” adding that she is honored that her son played for him.
“His voice is so soothing. I’m in shock and I see him pop up on my phone because he calls on FaceTime and just to see him, it calms me down. Coach was his father, just like I am. There just couldn’t have been a greater person that I would have wanted in my son’s life,” Wendell said.
Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes held a memorial service for Dominiq on Saturday, March 7.
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