Rayner chooses Duke over ECU

Wed. February 01, 2012 at 10:55 a.m. | By Chuck Carree | StarNews Staff Writer

North Brunswick linebacker Keilin Rayner is headed up I-40 to Duke in the fall.

LELAND | Following his official visit to Duke a couple of weeks ago, Keilin Rayner kept quiet.

On Wednesday morning, the North Brunswick High School football standout spoke up, put on a Duke cap and announced the Blue Devils as his college choice over East Carolina.

He then signed a national letter of intent at the school media center before teammates, coaches, media and well wishers.

“After my visit, I kind of let things sink in,’’ he said of a Jan. 20 trip to Durham.

He also kept his parents in the dark, including stepfather Tyrone Simpson, a defensive end with Maryland in the early 1990s.
“We gave him a deadline to tell us by Monday,’’ Simpson said. “That’s when we found out. He did not give any indication before that.’’

Rayner’s parents attempted to simplify things for him, telling him to consider academics first and football second.

“His mother and I had concerns,’’ Simpson said. “One was distance, the other the size of the school and the level of education.’’

Rayner weighed the pros and cons, but believed coach David Cutcliffe, who said the Blue Devils are on the rise and the administration is committed to restoring the program’s luster. Duke’s last series of winning seasons was 1987-89, capped by an Atlantic Coast Conference championship 23 years ago.

“He told me they want to make football at Duke the equal of basketball there,’’ Rayner said.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pounder is currently targeted as an inside linebacker, and he is a three-star recruit, according to ESPN.

Rayner has maintained more than a 3.2 grade-point average throughout high school and plans to major in kinesiology. What made his decision tough, he said, was that Duke and ECU have superb sports medicine programs.

“But with a Duke education you can pretty much do whatever you want in life,’’ he said.

For Rayner, the recruiting process started his sophomore season, when East Carolina offered a scholarship for the 2012 class. The Pirates discovered him at an underclassmen combine.

Then, each season, the process picked up, with more recruiters showing during summers. In recent weeks, coaches phoned and made in-home visits with final sales pitches.

One late comer was Ohio State, which tempted Rayner because of the rapport he had with Buckeyes’ assistant Everett Withers – North Carolina’s interim coach during the 2011 season.

“I was kind of interested in Ohio State, but the reality of the situation is, the school’s is so far away,’’ he said.

Chuck Carree: 343-2262