It all started with an alleged phone call to his mother, Pilar Sanders. At Focus Academics, Dallas, in 2015, Shilo Sanders reportedly broke the school’s no-phone policy. As a security guard took him to an office to serve his punishment, the then-high-schooler called his mother. And when Deion Sanders tried to interfere, it allegedly led to Shilo throwing elbows and punches at the same security guard. The actions of that day have now led to Shilo declaring bankruptcy. While that’s surprising, what’s even more astonishing is how Pilar and Deion – who both allegedly had things to say in 2015 – have stayed silent.

This offseason, the Sanders family has been in the spotlight throughout. It’s like they haven’t caught a break. From Coach Prime (and in some part, at Shedeur Sanders) becoming the center of criticism for losing 40+ players in the portal to Shelomi Sanders’ decision to leave Colorado that incited a feud between him and his ex-wife Pilar, the Sanders’ are hitting a rough patch early in 2024. And in light of recent events, Shilo Sanders has jumped into the fire, too.

Per legal documents acquired by Westword, the security guard in question was John Darjean, who sued Shilo Sanders in 2016 for damages related to the alleged assault. In 2022, the court awarded Darjean $11.89 million in damages, which the safety hasn’t yet paid. Now, speculation is that Shilo declared bankruptcy to avoid paying this multi-million-dollar penalty. Since news of his bankruptcy broke, his parents haven’t commented, which raised quite a few eyebrows, considering how supportive they are of their children. However, Shilo’s eldest brother has subtly been his guiding voice during this time.

Deion Sanders Jr – the person behind the cameras for the Colorado Buffaloes, the person running the Well Off Media YouTube channel, but most importantly, an elder brother to Shilo, Shelomi, and Shedeur – seemingly showed his brother his support. On his Well Off Forever Instagram page, Deion Jr uploaded a picture of stick figures of ‘car payment,’ ‘rent,’ ‘gas,’ and ‘lights’ beating up a stick figure of ‘me.’ Subtly referring to Shilo Sanders’ situation, he captioned the post, “Don’t get discouraged in those summer months… it’s slow for everybody. It’s not just you.” But how is it Shilo in the first place?

In this age of NIL valuation, where college athletes earn in millions owing to sponsorship deals, it’s difficult to imagine them as bankrupt. Especially someone as well-known and well-connected as Shilo Sanders. Earning $1.1 million per On3, he is the highest-paid safety in the NCAA. Add to that his father’s comments about the nature of Shilo’s spending. In an appearance on the Full Send Podcast, Coach Prime discussed his sons earning significant money through NIL deals.

He revealed, “Yеah, thеy havе a multitudе of vеhiclеs and so forth. Shеdеur morе so than Shilo. Shilo’s vеry consеrvativе; hе doеsn’t do too much with his. But Shеdеur doеsn’t play.” Considering this, it’s quite surprising that he’s reportedly bankrupt now. Another surprising aspect of this case was the extent of the injuries sustained by John Darjean.

After Darjean escorted Shilo Sanders to the office, one of Coach Prime’s assistant coaches put the guard on the phone with Deion Sanders. At the same time, the now-24-year-old was talking to Pilar Sanders. When Darjean mentioned this to Deion, he said, “You’re my brother in Christ. I need you to go get the phone… as soon as you get the phone from him, give me a call back.” However, when he tried to do just that, Shilo allegedly “slammed his elbow into Darjean’s chest and continued to hit Darjean after he fell. Darjean was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.”

Per his 2016 lawsuit, John Darjean “sustained severe and permanent injuries including a broken neck, damage to his cervical spine, permanent neurological injuries and irreversible incontinence.” That’s not all, though. Apart from Sanders being charged with assault and battery, John Darjean even believes that there might be discrepancies and inaccuracies in Shilo’s disclosed assets.

Did Shilo Sanders not disclose all his assets?

As a high-profile athlete in the NCAA, Shilo Sanders was bound to attract big NIL deals. And courtesy of his partnerships with brands like KFC, Oikos Yogurt, and TurboTax, he reportedly earns at least $1 million a year. However, when it came to the John Darjean case, the Colorado Buffaloes’ safety showed a lack of substantiation between the two amounts.

In December 2023, he divulged assets worth $320,477. The shocking thing about this was the fact that they were down from his October 2023 declaration of $477,881. As per Darjean’s filing, he argued that Shilo didn’t divulge “vast amounts of high-end and expensive clothing” as well as the NIL deals he has with different companies.

It isn’t clear what the future holds for Shilo Sanders. However, there’s no doubt he’d hope to tackle his way out of this as soon as possible.