Deion Sanders has provided new details on his son Shilo’s injury, which has the Colorado safety questionable for a highly anticipated game against No. 8 USC on Saturday.
The younger Sanders sustained the injury during the Buffaloes’ 42-6 blowout loss to No. 9 Oregon last weekend, in which he posted seven tackles (six solo) while playing safety against the Ducks’ high-powered offense.
Sanders entered the game yelling, “I’ll beat the f*** out of every one of y’all and your coach,” but a tackle apparently went badly enough for him that he said he was urinating blood and needed to go the emergency room after landing back in Boulder.
Five days later, Sanders is reportedly still dealing with blood in his urine due to a kidney issue, which Deion discussed during his weekly radio show with Colorado, via Sports Illustrated:
“Praying for him. I don’t even know how he did this. I mean, what’s going on with the kidney in Boulder? What’s going on with us right now?
“I mean, he got on the plane, and he was like, ‘Dad, I’m peeing blood …’ So we landed, and we went straight to the hospital to check him out. He was cool. But he can’t participate until he stops urinating blood.”
As Deion alluded to, Shilo isn’t the only Colorado defensive back currently dealing with an internal organ issue. Two-way star Travis Hunter was hospitalized a week earlier on a late hit from Colorado State safety Henry Blackburn, which reportedly caused a lacerated liver and saw Blackburn receive death threats, which Colorado condemned. Hunter, who had to miss the Oregon game due to the hit, has since forgiven Blackburn.
Shilo’s status for Saturday has been described as questionable, but Deion explained that it really comes down to whether his son will stop urinating blood in time:
“He told the doctor, ‘You know I’m a Sanders, right? I’ve gotta play …’ He wants to play so bad,” the elder Sanders said. “So we have another probably 36 hours before we really know if he’s not urinating blood anymore.”
Missing Shilo would be a significant loss for Colorado as it tries to avoid back-to-back losses while facing an offense led by reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. Sanders, who was part of the en masse transfer to Boulder from Jackson State, leads all Pac-12 defensive players in solo tackles so far this season and came up huge in the Colorado State game with an 80-yard pick-6.
The USC-Colorado game, which is already seeing a massive celebrity guest list, is scheduled for noon ET Saturday in Boulder. USC is favored by 21.5 points at BetMGM.