Gideon ESPN Lampron, Who's Legal Middle Name is "ESPN", Has Gone From FCS, To The MAC, To Back-To-Back Big 12 Defensive POTW and One of The Best Linebackers in The Country
I was a little bummed when I first learned that Gideon ESPN Lampron had transferred out of Bowling Green. One not-so-fun thing that happens when you cheer for a MAC team (espeically if you're not super plugged in the way I am with Bowling Green), is that at the start of each season, you'll be watching some random Big 12 game and hear a name that sounds familiar. And that's when you find out that your running back, Cameron Pettaway, who you honestly didn't think was THAT good (I mean Bowling Green won 4 games last season after all), is now playing for Iowa State, housing kick returns against his old team
Same thing happened to me with Wisconsin TE Jacob Harris (son of legendary Bowling Green QB Josh Harris). I knew he was a senior with Bowling Green last year. I figured he had graduated and moved on to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Until this highlight popped up on my TV one day.
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Cool, cool, cool. I'm happy for them. But god damn. The transfer portal makes it a little tough to get overly excited about a good Bowling Green Falcon these days. As a MAC school, if you find yourself with a good crop of athletes, you better win right now.
Perhaps the saddest loss for Bowling Green, but at the same time the happiest because you want to see guys succeed, is linebacker Gideon ESPN Lampron. That's his real name. After Gideon was born, while his mom was fast asleep, a nurse asked Dad to sign the birth certificate. That's when he made the executive decision to name his kid after the worldwide leader in sports. He didn't even bother to tell his wife until it was too late.
Dayton Daily News – When Jenniffer was pregnant with Gideon, she picked the name, Marty said, and wanted to go with Xavier as the middle name. Marty asked if he could pick the middle name. He suggested ESPN, but pronounced as ES-PEN. She said no, but they didn’t settle on a middle name before the birth.
“Then she delivers Gideon, and she’s out of it,” Marty said, “and the nurse comes for me to sign the birth certificate. When I signed it, I literally printed ESPN in capital letters. She was out cold when I did it. When she woke up, I told her I did it, and she said, ‘No, you didn’t.’ She didn’t realize I did it. She wasn’t happy with me.”
This dad sounds hilarious. My sneaky favorite part of the story was about Gideon's older brother. Apparently the dad spent months trying to convince his wife to let him name their firstborn son Larry Bird.
“He has a brother who’s 10 years older named Gabriel,” Marty said. “I grew up in Boston. I went for months trying to talk my wife into letting me name him Larry Bird. It didn’t go well.
Anyways, Gideon ESPN Lampron turned out to be more than a pretty hilarious name. He was already a damn good player at Dayton University before he transferred to play for Eddie George at Bowling Green. He made the 2024 FCS All-American Team.
When he got Bowling Green as a Junior, it was more of the same. He started every game at linebacker. He was elected captain. Led the team in tackles (by a wide margin). He was named First Team All-MAC, tied for 8th in the nation in solo tackles with 65, and was the only player in all of college football to finish the year with 100+ total tackles and 15+ TFLs.
Not too shabby. So, naturally, because this is college football in the year 2026, Bowling Green never stood a chance of keeping the guy. He entered the transfer portal and signed to play his senior season at Colorado. Gideon ESPN Lampron went from playing for Eddie George to motherfucking Deion Sanders. I guess he has a type.
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Colorado might not be having the best season this year, but it's hard to say ESPN made a bad choice. He certainly gets plenty of playing time. Through 9 games, he's second in the nation in tackles, with 5.5 sacks to boot.
He's now won two consecutive Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week awards, and today was named a Chuck Bednarik Semifinalist for top defensive player in the nation.
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I thought that was a cool story. He's a fun player to root for. Just look how happy he is in this postgame interview. Watch his reaction when he learns it's Champ Bailey and Victor Cruz on the other end of the headset asking him questions.
That's a hell of a come-up. He was a viral story because of his funny name, then worked his ass off (presumably) to become one of the best defensive players in all of college football. Sometimes the transfer portal really sucks. It sucks for a lot of reasons. But it also gives players like Gideon ESPN Lampron an opportunity to climb the ladder, make a name for themselves, and maybe even make a little bit of walking-around money. Good stuff, ESPN.