Deion Sanders discusses player death: 'Toughest thing for me to digest'

Colorado coach Deion Sanders discussed the death of one of his quarterbacks this week and said one thing more than others was the toughest to digest.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders made his first extensive public comments about the recent death of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder, revealing that Ponder had recently earned a new jersey number and was going to wear it for the first time on March 2, one day after he died in a car accident at age 23.

Sanders discussed Ponder's death on his weekly talk show on Tubi which aired March 5. Ponder was a non-scholarship backup quarterback at Colorado who had spent two seasons in Boulder and had previously worn jersey No. 22, which is unusual for a quarterback.

But Sanders said he encouraged Ponder to fight for the right to wear a more coveted jersey number - No. 7. He was going to wear it when his team started spring practice March 2.

“He worked his butt off, and this season he was gonna wear No. 7,” Sanders said on the show “We Got Time Today.” “But the teammates love him so much. One of the kids came to my office today and said, `Coach, can I wear 22? You know, for my roommate?’ I said, ‘Yeah, but you know, he was getting ready to wear 7.’ Like, the next day, he would have been in 7 for his first time ever.”

The number change has presented Sanders’ team with a decision to make. The Buffaloes plan to honor Ponder’s memory with a patch on their jerseys, but is still deciding which number to use in it – the one Ponder was known for (22) or the one he worked hard to get (7).