When a legend speaks, people need to listen. That's why Colorado football invited Baltimore Ravens and Miami football superstar Ed Reed to visit with their players and speak his wisdom. With former Hurricanes star Warren Sapp on the Colorado football staff as a graduate assistant, he called in a favor with one of the NFL's all-time best safeties. Reed shared his powerful message with the players and coaches in the audience.
“You can die playing this game. So your mind gotta be right. You gotta be physically read to play this game. You can't be tired. You gotta have the energy to go out there today and do this thing the right way. That means you gotta recover the night before, so you can do it again the next day, the next play.”
“Football is war! Y’all the army… You could die. Y’all know that?… It’s serious out here. You could die playing this game.”
Ed Reed spoke to Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes 🗣️
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Deion Sanders and Sapp are certainly making the most of their connections to bring Colorado football players some of the best NFL athletes ever.
What Deion Sanders and Warren Sapp are doing right with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis

Reed wasn't the only former member of Miami football to speak to the Buffaloes. Earlier this month, Baltimore Ravens Hall of Famer visited the team and shared his personal tragedy after losing his son, Ray Lewis III, who was only 28 at the time of his passing.
Article Continues Below“Even when you think you got time, you don’t have time,” Lewis said to the team. “I lost my son at 28 years old because of the same foolishness that you guys have in front of you now. That’s the same foolishness that took my son out from an overdose. As a father, you will never recover from that, ever. So my son, I wear him around my neck the rest of my life, and he always says, let’s make today a great day.”
Even if it's purely for the experience of meeting a living legend like Reed or Lewis, it's a special treat for the team. Colorado football may not even win more than seven or eight games, but they'll definitely remember that time they met Reed, Lewis and all the players and coaches that will stop by to see Deion Sanders or Warren Sapp
Lewis continued, “I never understood how we take time for granted. How we act like time is a friend of ours. You know, Proverbs 3:5 says trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Because if we do, we are in trouble. I lost him, and I learned something. If you don’t have a pro mentality about life, the game will pass you too quickly.”
Lewis III played college football at the University of Miami, although he would eventually transfer to multiple schools. Unfortunately, his struggles were well-documented.
Reed and Lewis both have children, and their impactful words come from not only as football minds but from a place as parents. All those Colorado football players will carry those messages on the field and throughout their lives.