"First of all, Levi is a nice young man, a fine student and a great athlete," Morris said. "All of us at Kearney are excited about having him in our program. We think he and Ryan Nienhueser will do big things for us--just as they did for York."

York coach Jerry Dunn knows his Dukes will miss Rath's talents come fall.

"Levi will be a player whom we will miss a great deal next year," Dunn said. "He will be very difficult to replace. During his senior season, opposing teams had a very difficult time blocking him. This was especially true in the regular season against McCook when he ended up with 20 total tackles in a game where we did very little blitzing and stunting.

"Levi is simply a great football player who continually demonstrated great instincts."

The Dukes will, indeed, miss the defensive stalwart who amassed several post season honors following York's stint in the state playoffs. In addition to his selection to the south Shrine team, Rath was a first team selection at linebacker by both the Omaha World Herald and the Lincoln Journal-Star; a second team super state selection by the Journal-Star; and both a co-captain and an all area first team selection by the sports staff of the York News-Times.

Rath will start his tenure at Kearney at linebacker.

"Levi will play inside linebacker to begin with," Morris said. "We just want him in a position to hit since he will hit anything that comes his way."

Rath is excited about joining the Lopers and beginning his undergraduate studies.

"I selected Kearney because I was impressed with the football program and coaches," Rath said. "I also appreciated the interest that Coach Morris showed in getting me on his football team. Last and certainly not least, I think Kearney has the best construction management program around."