Colorado
Colorado adds 4 prospects, including No. 5 DE
Colorado sent shockwaves through the recruiting world Thursday night when the Buffaloes landed 2025 commitments from IMG Academy defenders London Merritt and Alexander McPherson, offensive tackle Carde Smith and wide receiver Quentin Gibson, all in the span of 30 minutes.
The four prospects announced their pledges in consecutive live appearances on “Nightcap,” a nighttime talk show hosted by former NFL stars Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.
Colorado’s flurry of late-night commitments came seven days after the Buffaloes secured a seismic pledge from five-star quarterback Julian Lewis, ESPN’s No. 2 overall prospect in 2025. With the additions, coach Deion Sanders holds 15 commitments in an incoming recruiting class that sits 50th in ESPN’s latest class rankings just days before the early signing period opens Wednesday.
Merritt, No. 52 in the ESPN 300, marks the highest-profile pledge among the newcomers bound for Colorado. ESPN’s No. 5 defensive end prospect, Merritt was the fourth-ranked member of Ohio State’s 2025 class before he pulled his pledge from the Buckeyes on Tuesday. Merritt now sits behind Lewis as the Buffaloes’ second-ranked commit in the cycle.
Merritt and McPherson took visits to Colorado earlier this month. McPherson’s commitment to the Buffaloes came one day after the 6-foot-3, 240-pound pass rusher decommitted from Oklahoma State.
Smith (No. 293 in the ESPN 300) is ESPN’s No. 32 offensive tackle prospect in 2025 and lands with Colorado after he pulled his pledge from USC on Nov. 20. The blocker from Mobile, Alabama, visited the Buffaloes multiple times this fall, and Smith now represents Colorado’s second top-300 offensive tackle pledge over the past two cycles, following five-star 2024 signee Jordan Seaton.
Gibson, a pass catcher from Fort Worth, Texas, also visited Colorado during the season and held offers from Illinois, Kansas State, Mississippi State and SMU, among others.
Sanders and the Buffaloes are closing strong in the 2025 cycle with seven commitments since Oct. 25. Colorado closes the regular season Friday with a visit from Oklahoma State at noon ET on ABC.
Colorado
Power outages reported across southeast Denver metro area, Xcel Energy says multiple substations involved
On Sunday afternoon, residents across the southeast Denver metro area began reporting widespread outages.
A resident near the substation on S. Abeline Circle shared a video with CBS Colorado that appears to capture an explosion and a large arc of electricity coming from the substation. He said the video was taken shortly after a larger explosion occurred at the facility.
A representative shared the following statement with CBS Colorado:
“I can confirm a large outage in the southeast side of the metro. It started at one of our substations, and crews are on the scene working on repairs and finding the cause of the outage. We appreciate our customers’ patience as our crews work as quickly as possible to safely restore power.”
They later confirmed that several substations are involved, which is why the outage was so widespread.
Denver International Airport said it was affected by Sunday’s power outage, which knocked out power to the trains for a time.
Xcel said 148,000 of its customers experienced a power outage this afternoon. As of 8:30 p.m., only 21 Xcel customers in Colorado remain without power.
CORE Electric says 44,350 of its customers lost power across Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Elbert counties. By 5:26 p.m., the co-op reported that power had been restored to all of its customers.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office reported receiving numerous calls about outages and assured residents that they are aware of the issue. They urged residents to call 911 only in an emergency and to call the non-emergency line at (303) 660-7500 for non-emergency situations.
The Parker Police Department said emergency and non-emergency lines were out of service Sunday afternoon. It reported that service was restored to emergency lines around 4:25 p.m. Aurora 911 was also temporarily affected by the outage, but service has since been restored.
Colorado State Patrol/Courtesy photo
Colorado State Patrol has identified the driver of a CDOT plow truck involved in a fatal crash on Interstate 70 on Thursday, Jan. 29. Troopers responded to the fatal crash around 8:53 a.m. on the snow-covered surface of eastbound Interstate 70 at mile point 218 near Herman Gulch and east of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels. The crash involved a snow plow, a sprinter van carrying a hockey team from California and two additional passenger vehicles.
Preliminary information from a Colorado State Patrol investigation shows that the CDOT plow truck was traveling westbound on Interstate 70 when the driver lost control. The plow truck traveled through the median, breaking through the cable rail and into the eastbound lanes. It then collided with a Toyota Tacoma that was traveling in the eastbound lanes.
Following impact, the Toyota went through the median and struck a BMW traveling the westbound lanes. The plow continued eastbound and struck a Ford transit van that was traveling in the eastbound lanes, resulting in the van going down an embankment. The CDOT plow came to rest on the shoulder.
According to a Colorado State Patrol news release, the plow truck’s driver was 29-year-old Littleton resident Colton A. Weidman. The Toyota Tacoma was driven by a Silverthorne resident, while the BMW was driven by a Denver resident. The Toyota Tacoma had a 65 year old female passenger, according to Colorado State patrol.
The driver of the van, which was carrying 10 occupants, was declared dead at the scene, and at least seven passenger, including four juveniles, were transported from the scene, according to Colorado State Patrol. One injured juvenile was transported by helicopter to an area trauma center with critical injuries, and one adult male refused to be transported. No other involved parties were transported from the scene.
The crash remains under investigation by the Colorado State Patrol Vehicular Crimes Unit.
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