Colorado football was struck by tragedy early Sunday when quarterback Dominiq Ponder died in a car accident. The loss deeply affected Deion Sanders and the entire Buffaloes program, and Coach Prime honored Ponder as one of his favorite players, praising his positive attitude and relentless work ethic.
Colorado Player Says Protecting Quarterbacks Becomes Mission After Dom Ponder’s Tragic Passing
Colorado returned to the field on Monday to continue spring practice while grieving the tragic loss of Ponder. Coach Prime faced the difficult decision to hold practice despite the tragedy, as players felt Ponder wouldn’t have wanted them to skip it. During practice, the Buffaloes honored Ponder by chanting his name after each huddle.
Several Colorado players, including offensive lineman Yahya Attia, shared their reactions to Ponder’s death.
“It feels like we’ve all got another wide to play for, and for the O-line especially, you know, it’s a quarterback, so it’s kind of sad not being able to protect him off the field,” Attia said.
“But it’s going to make me do everything to protect my quarterbacks. I have left the field, so that’s really what’s going on. I still don’t really realize it. I just don’t want to believe it yet, so it didn’t really hit me that hard yet.”
MORE: Colorado OC Brennan Marion Tears Up As He Honors Late QB Dominiq Ponder
Colorado is providing counseling support to help players and staff cope with the emotional impact, as safety Ben Finneseth reflected on the challenge of moving forward.
“Us to get away from this is it can either mold us, or it can tear us apart,” Finneseth said.
“It can tear us apart because of the team we are and the culture that we’re building. So you know, yesterday you’re going to go to sleep, and you wake up, and Dom’s not going to be there. But football is going to be there, so our mentality was. We got to go back to work, and we got to honor Dom in the way that we work.
“We’re going to do it for him. So it s*cks, and I’ll be praying for his family and for all his loved ones. I got the pleasure of spending a week with his fam last year during spring break when I went down and visited them, but you know be praying for all of them throughout this time.”
Colorado’s uniforms will feature a patch honoring Ponder in the 2026 season, serving as a daily reminder of his impact on and off the field. Sanders offered three designs: a lowercase “dom,” an uppercase “DOM,” and “DP 7,” which represent Ponder’s initials and jersey number.
Ponder appeared in two games last season, completing 0-of-1 passes and carrying the ball twice for a loss of 4 yards. He was on the depth chart behind potential starter sophomore Julian Lewis, who ended last season with a 64.1 rating in the PFSN College Football QB Impact Metric. Isaac Wilson and Colton Allen are also included in the Buffs’ quarterback room.
