Colorado’s offseason reset has plenty of moving parts, but one newcomer is already making noise before fall camp even starts.
Incoming defensive coordinator Chris Marve said former Bowling Green and Dayton linebacker Gideon Lampron has been taking an unusual route to get ahead: he asked for a Zoom session to go over Colorado’s defense before ever stepping on the field in Boulder.
“Gideon actually reached out to me and wanted to get on Zoom to talk through some plays,” Marve said on the “Pregame Show” podcast.
For Marve, that kind of initiative says plenty.
“That smells of a guy who really wants to be excellent at his craft. And we talk about it defensively, that's one of our standards.
We want to operate with excellence and maximizing your internal inputs so you can maximize your external potential for impact. That's what I see from him,” Marve said.
Lampron’s early work has nothing to do with lifting or footwork and everything to do with learning the defense before August arrives. The linebacker from Keystone High in LaGrange, Ohio, is trying to get the language and details down now, not later, so he can step into fall camp with a head start.
At 6-0 and 220 pounds, Lampron appears focused on more than just memorizing assignments. The early Zoom session suggests he wants to understand the system, recognize what offenses are showing before the snap and be ready to make adjustments on the fly.
That matters for a Colorado defense trying to find its footing after a 3-9 season. Under Coach Deion Sanders, the Buffaloes have not had a defense that consistently took over games, whether in the Big 12 or the Pac-12. The one player who did dominate on that side of the ball was Travis Hunter, who also starred on offense.
Now Colorado is hoping its linebacker room can become more veteran and more reliable, and Lampron is part of that push.
The position is open enough that competition should be real this fall. Lampron is in the mix with Tyler Martinez, another transfer linebacker who arrives from New Mexico State, and Liona Lefau, a transfer from Texas who also has a chance to lead the room.
For Colorado, the bigger picture is clear: the Buffaloes want linebackers who can think fast, play fast and bring more experience to the middle of the defense. Lampron’s early Zoom session suggests he’s already trying to be one of them.
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