This is the 42nd in a series of articles counting down the most important players for Florida State in 2012. There are 16 days until FSU football, and that's how many are left on the list. That means no off days. Oh, and these are not in any specific order

Nile Lawrence-Stample | 6'2, 305 | RS-Freshman | Nose Guard

Background (Courtesy of Seminoles.com bio)

A four-year starter who played middle linebacker as a junior before moving to defensive tackle as a senior...despite playing defensive tackle for the first time in his life as a senior, became a dominating presence on the Nova defensive line, regularly drawing double- and occasionally triple-team attention...finished the 2010 campaign with 47 tackles, six sacks and a forced fumble...four-star prospect who was ranked the No. 29 defensive tackle by Rivals.com...rated a four-star prospect and the No. 14 defensive tackle by 247Sports...three-star prospect by Scout.com who was the No. 37 defensive tackle...named First Team All-Broward County by the Sun Sentinel as a senior...No. 80 on Bill Buchalter's 2011 Florida Top 100 for the Orlando Sentinel...No. 71 on the SuperPrep Florida 110...was a big hit at a Miami combine with a 4.9 in the 40-yard dash...All-Broward County First Team by The Miami Herald as a senior...member of the Florida Times-Union's Florida Super 75 where he was rated as the No. 3 defensive tackle...No. 146 on the ESPNU 150 and rated the No. 13 overall defensive tackle...coached by Bill Hobbs...as a junior middle linebacker at Nova, registered over 100 tackles...born July 14, 1993.

Career to Date

Lawrence-Stample redshirted in 2011 and put in good work at the weight room. In the spring, FSU fans saw him destroy fellow RS-freshman Trey Pettis, who, uh, to put it kindly "still needs to have the baby." Going solely off the spring game, Lawrence-Stample is the best player on the team. But he won't face a lineman as bad as 2012 spring game Pettis this year.

You might be asking why we are previewing the third-string nose guard. That's a valid question. Let's learn something.

Under Mark Stoops and ideal conditions, Florida State has shown that it wants to be three-deep at noseguard. The starter is Anthony McCloud, the near-starter is Timmy Jernigan. Jacobbi McDaniel is probably going to take a redshirt coming off a horrific leg injury.

So it appears that NLS is going to be the guy. How much will he play?

@davidkugler FSU wants to be 3-deep at NT.He should be #3 and get about 20% of the snaps. Maybe 3-4 series per game. @tomahawknation

— Bert (@ACCrefsSuck) August 17, 2012

I think 20 percent might be a bit high if the estimate is one of meaningful snaps, but not if it is snaps including garbage time. Of course, if the No. 1 or 2 get hurt, 20-percent might well be a good estimate of the percentage of meaningful snaps he'll be asked to play.

NLS is extremely wide, and pretty quick. He does not have long arms or much experience, and should not be expected to be a dominant force in his first year. But his physical talents are much greater than those of most of the starting nose guard in the league.

And he's just another piece of what many believe is the best defensive line group in the country.