America-born Jamaican tackles college 'football'

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

Most Jamaicans would frown on a sport played primarily using hands being referred to as football. However, Nile Lawrence-Stample is not letting this cultural divergence stand in his way. The 18-year-old is making quite a name for himself in American football.

Lawrence-Stample has emerged a superstar at his Florida-based high school, Nova, and is tipped to have the same impact at Florida State University, and eventually in the National Football League (NFL).

The 6-foot-1 youngster, who maintains his Jamaican link despite being born in New York, explained his connection to the island upon his most recent visit last month.

"My mom is Jamaican. She was born and raised in Jamaica and went to college there before moving to New York when she was around 30," Lawrence-Stample informed. "She really wanted me to keep my Jamaican heritage, so I come down often," he added.

His high school coach, Bill Hobbs, has described the teenager as a "freak of nature".

"He's a freak of nature," the Nova High coach was quoted as saying on the website floridatoday.com. "His strength is incredible. He benches over 400 pounds already. He could probably squat 700 or more … and he's a guy that can run a 4.8 seconds 40 (yard dash) at 312 pounds."

Started with soccer

But the defensive linebacker actually started out kicking a ball around on a pitch, not gripping the pigskin.

"I started playing soccer when I was four years old, but when I came into high school and I thought, I was big and fast, so I might as well play (American) football," Lawrence-Stample pointed out. "It was a good transition and I saw it as a better opportunity for me.

"In soccer, you need speed and agility, and in (American) football, you need speed and agility; so for both of them you need to be athletic," he expounded.

Last year as a junior, Lawrence-Stample registered over 100 tackles playing middle linebacker. This has led to him being rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and making the ESPNU 150 TV.

He, however, conceded that it is challenging at times to stay committed, due to how time-consuming the sport is.

"You have to stay in shape. Even though you are big, you have to maintain speed, so you have to do a lot of footwork drills, running and a lot of agility drills," Lawrence-Stample, shared. "I train all year-round, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while on the other days I rest my body," he added.

A typical training session for the Florida State University-bound athlete lasts for approximately one and a half hours. It usually includes lifting, squatting, bench pressing, footwork drills and some conditioning exercises, which include running the full length of the 120-yard football field some 16 times.

The defensive tackler, who will start college on June 18, admitted that the sport can be a dangerous one, but is of the view that it comes down to proper coaching.

"It can be a very harmful, but at the same time, if you protect yourself and you are coached to play the correct way, you will be fine," explained Lawrence-Stample, who has hopes of playing for the Miami Dolphins in the NFL.

"I want to play for Miami (Dolphins), because it is close to home and close to Jamaica."