Colorado Coach Fights Tears Remembering His QB Dominiq Ponder: “We’ll Save a Spot in the Room”

Boulder, Colorado — The first spring press conference for the Colorado Buffaloes was supposed to be about schemes, depth charts, and the rollout of offensive coordinator Brennan Marion’s high-tempo Go-Go offense. Instead, it became a moment of raw grief and remembrance for 23-year-old quarterback Dominiq Ponder, who died early Sunday in a single-car accident in Boulder County.

Marion, fighting back tears, described the painful reality of walking into the quarterback meeting room and not seeing Ponder already seated, as he always was. “You see somebody every day, every morning,” Marion said Monday. “We’ll just save a spot for him in the room.”

Ponder, entering his second season in Boulder after transferring from Bethune–Cookman in 2024, was battling for on-field reps but had already carved out an unmistakable role off it. Coaches and teammates alike praised his relentless work ethic and selfless leadership. “In an era where you have to force people to work hard, you had to tell Dom to stop working so hard,” Marion said. “He flash-carded my whole entire playbook. Every play.”

He arrived before sunrise for 5:30 a.m. meetings, shuttled freshman quarterbacks to practice, and helped younger teammates decode the complexities of the new system. If someone needed clarity, encouragement, or even a way into a locked facility, Ponder handled it.

When Marion received Sunday’s phone call from Ponder’s father, he was playing with his own son. “I just stopped,” Marion recalled. “I couldn’t move.”

The shock reverberated across the Buffaloes’ facility. Head coach Deion Sanders offered the team the option to cancel Monday’s practice. The players chose to take the field. “We decided as a team, Dom wouldn’t miss the day,” safety Ben Finneseth said. “That’s what he would have wanted for us.”

As Colorado moves forward this spring, the empty chair inside the quarterback room will remain a silent testament to a player whose impact, though brief, was immeasurable.