Colorado’s fall camp ended Monday, but football was hardly Deion Sanders’ biggest concern. While the Buffs prepared for Week 1, his son Shilo was in a Denver courtroom fighting to wipe away an $11.89 million judgment in bankruptcy court. Deion cannot fight this one for him. For now, all he can do is pray that the trial changes how people see what happened.

“Praying for my baby,” Deion Sanders said via Well Off Media. “Shilo in court today. I came to the creek to get several suits last night. Praying for my baby that people see what really transpired. We are going to forgive you for your judgment.”

Deion’s prayer went beyond seeing his son in court. Shilo is fighting to erase the debt tied to a confrontation from more than a decade ago.

This mess started in 2015, when Shilo was 15 and attending a Dallas school. John Darjean, a security guard, went after his phone. The two ended up in a physical confrontation, after which Darjean sued.

Shilo wasn’t there when the case reached trial in 2022, and Darjean was awarded a default judgment worth $11.89 million. Then, in 2023, Shilo filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Now the court has to decide whether that debt can be wiped away.

Darjean’s side says no. His attorneys argue the injuries resulted from a “willful and malicious injury,” which could prevent the debt from being discharged. Shilo’s defense has a much different version of that afternoon. His attorney, Victor Vital, told the court that Darjean used excessive force and escalated the confrontation.

“The plaintiff escalated the encounter using disproportionate physical force against a 15-year-old boy,” Vital said. “The evidence is going to show he manhandled my client.”

Darjean’s attorney, Ori Raphael, attacked Shilo’s changing account of the incident.

“For 10 years the defense (claimed) he never touched a man,” he said. “If that’s the case, it cannot be self-defense. No one accidentally acts in self-defense… And if today he changes his tune, his credibility, which is also on trial, is shattered.”

That clash over the facts will sit at the center of the trial, which is expected to run through Friday. Shilo appeared in court Monday wearing a dark suit and white-collared shirt. He did not testify on the opening day. Instead, the court heard prerecorded testimony from witnesses involved in earlier proceedings.

Two of those witnesses directly accused Shilo of throwing punches. Former student Deaunte Lee said Shilo hit Darjean with an elbow before throwing a “two-piece,” while former school employee Saundra Haynes testified that Shilo “punched him right in the face” and called the attack unprovoked.

One of them was Leroy McClure, the school’s founder. He previously testified that an investigation cleared Darjean of wrongdoing. He also gave an account of Shilo’s obsession with the phone.

“He was very adamant about not giving up that phone,” McClure said. “In fact, he still had the phone in his hand. The way he was carrying himself, I thought there would be another confrontation that would have been between Shilo Sanders and myself.”

There is a scheduling problem hanging over Deion Sanders, too. The Colorado coach must remain available remotely for possible rebuttal testimony on Sept. 4, although he may never be called. The Buffs are scheduled to leave for Georgia on Sept. 1 before opening the season against Georgia Tech on Sept. 3.

Deion Sanders has already made it clear that he isn’t treating the case as something that will derail his football duties.

“When you have ‘it,’ when you’re ‘him,’ you get sued,” he previously said.

But on Monday, football talk took a back seat as his prayers went out to Shilo Sanders. For Deion Sanders, that was the message. Now Shilo has to deal with what comes next in court.