DENVER \u2014 Colorado coach Deion Sanders may be losing a tailback but gaining a future dentist.<\/p>\n
Charlie Offerdahl stood in front of his teammates and coaches on the first day of fall camp Tuesday and announced he’s retiring from football due to a history of concussions. He’s on track to graduate in December and has a year of eligibility remaining. <\/p>\n
On the horizon: Dental school as he goes from the field to fillings.<\/p>\n
Sanders, who announced the day before he’s been declared cured from bladder cancer, put out a plea to make sure Offerdahl’s dental school was taken care of through some sort of scholarship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s somebody out there that\u2019s in control of a dental school,\u201d Sanders said in a video of the moment posted on his Instagram account. \u201cI want to make sure we take care of you. … We\u2019re going to get somebody out there to bless you.”<\/p>\n
The Buffaloes have their coach back after what’s been a frightening past few months for Sanders. He described his health scare Monday as doctors removed his bladder to ward off an aggressive form of cancer. He had a section of his intestine reconstructed to function as a bladder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m allowed to go through these trials and tribulations so that I could touch and reach and bless people with the words, with the energy, with that thing that God gave me,\u201d Sanders said at his news conference where he was accompanied by his medical team. \u201cSo I never thought about no death. … I’ve got too much life in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Colorado running back Charlie Offerdahl (44) runs the ball behind lineman Van Wells (55), who looks to block Arizona’s Christian Young during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Tucson, Ariz. Credit: AP\/Rick Scuteri<\/p>\n
Sanders promoted Offerdahl from a walk-on into a scholarship player at the spring game in 2024. Sanders gathered the team together that day and presented him a scholarship.<\/p>\n
Offerdahl\u2019s 150 yards rushing in 2022 \u2014 the year before Sanders arrived on campus \u2014 were the most in school history by a walk-on.<\/p>\n
Last season, Offerdahl played in 13 games, rushing for 126 yards and one TD. He wore an \u201cL\u201d on his jersey to signify \u201cleader.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cCharlie never had a bad day,” Sanders said. “Always came to work, came to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Colorado running back Charlie Offerdahl (44) runs the ball behind lineman Van Wells (55), who looks to block Arizona’s Christian Young during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Tucson, Ariz. Credit: AP\/Rick Scuteri<\/p>\n
It was an emotional meeting with the team for Offerdahl, who’s majoring in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been here this summer. If it\u2019s not obvious already, I won\u2019t be coming back this year,\u201d Offerdahl explained in the video. \u201cJust how serious this last concussion was and how many I’ve had leading up to it, it was pretty scary for me and my family. I will be hanging it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also expressed his appreciation in Sanders for believing in him. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t thank you enough for that,\u201d said Offerdahl, who embraced Sanders. \u201cThis is a really tough decision for me just because of how much football does mean to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Offerdahl told his teammates of his dental plans \u2014 and extended a future offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn about six or seven years, if any of you guys need some \u2018grillz,\u2019 you know where to come,\u201d cracked Offerdahl, referring to the metal covers worn over teeth. \u201cI love you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 Colorado coach Deion Sanders may be losing a tailback but gaining a future dentist. Charlie Offerdahl…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[41907,11091,318,331,7,49,48,2309],"class_list":{"0":"post-247415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-audio_enabled","9":"tag-cancer","10":"tag-college","11":"tag-college-football","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-football","15":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114940996804615697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}