Former Ferris State Receiver Jake Lampman Signed By XFL's Tampa Bay Vipers

Big Rapids, Mich. - Former Ferris State University standout receiver Jake Lampman (East Lansing/Haslett) became the first former Bulldog Football player to receive an opportunity in the new XFL as he was signed by the Tampa Bay Vipers this week.

Lampman will have an opportunity to continue his career in professional football after being added from Team 9, which is the XFL's league-wide practice squad.

The 6-0, 205-pound Lampman formerly has played in the National Football League with both the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He first entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Ferris State, signing with the New Orleans Saints in 2016. He started his rookie season on the Saints' practice squad but was later promoted to the active roster in mid-October of 2016. Lampman was productive on special teams, making six kick-coverage tackles in just six games, and he went back to training camp with the Saints the following summer before being waived in the final cuts.

The standout receiver was then added in November 2017 to the practice squad by the Buccaneers and concluded the regular-season and the following offseason with the organization.

In 2016, Lampman became the first FSU player in 13 years to play on football's biggest stage in regular-season action with the Saints. Since then, five other former Bulldog teammates made their NFL regular-season debuts. This past fall, a total of five Bulldog alums were on active NFL rosters at one point, including Tavierre Thomas (Cleveland), Justin Zimmer (Cleveland), Zach Sieler (Miami), Brady Sheldon (Cincinnati) and Jason Vander Laan (New Orleans)

Overall, Lampman is among eight players all-time who competed for the Bulldogs to see playing time in the NFL regular season along with Dave Gagnon (1974), Ricky Patton (1978-82), Monty Brown (1993-96), Ed Philion (1994-95) Clarence Coleman (2003), Vander Laan (2017-19), Sheldon (2017-19), Zimmer (2018-19), Sieler (2018-19) and Thomas (2018-19).

Lampman wrapped up his Bulldog career in 2015 as one of the top wideouts in school history. He claimed first-team All-GLIAC accolades in his final campaign after leading FSU with 731 receiving yards on 52 catches in 12 contests. He averaged 14.1 yards per catch in 2015 and tallied eight TD's in the air. In addition, he also carried the ball 14 times for 125 yards and four scores on the ground.

The Bulldog wideout returned for his final season after missing most of the 2014 campaign due to injury. He was a four-year letterwinner in the Bulldog program and finished his career ranked sixth all-time in receiving yards with 2,201 total yards. In addition, he played a valuable role on special teams as a dangerous return man in his five seasons in the Ferris State program.

As a senior, Lampman helped lead the Bulldogs to an 11-1 overall record for the second-straight year in 2015 as FSU captured the school's second-straight GLIAC Championship while capping off back-to-back unbeaten regular seasons. Ferris State also stretched its regular-season win streak to a current 25-game stretch and posted the first playoff victory in 19 years.

This week, the Vipers face the St. Louis BattleHawks on Saturday (March 14) at 5 p.m. (ET) on Fox Sports 2.