Seth Rinderknecht fell in love with soccer a long time ago and has dreamed about playing at the Division I level in college.

Now he's going to get an early start.

Rinderknecht plans to graduate from Cedar Rapids Prairie this month and enroll at Nebraska-Omaha in January to begin his freshman year in college and join their soccer program.

Rinderknecht made the decision to leave early during the summer and arranged his classes to fulfill all his academic requirements for graduation. In addition to his classes at Prairie, he's taking three college-level courses at Kirkwood to help meet Nebraska-Omaha's requirements as well.

Nebraska-Omaha offered Rinderknecht a scholarship last spring and suggested he think about enrolling early. Soccer is played during the fall in college, so this way he'll be further along than other new players.

"They said it's a really good way to adapt to the new style of college soccer," he explained. "You're going to adapt to school and meet new friends, you're going to get training in and everything during the spring.

"So when you come back in the fall you're all ready to go and you're not new to the school and everything is not an overload right there in the fall."

Rinderknecht will sign his national letter-of-intent with Nebraska-Omaha this Wednesday at 8 a.m. at Prairie. He'll become the second member of the Prairie boys soccer program to participate at the Division I level, following Austin Reutzel who went to Drake.

Rinderknecht's older brother, Logan, is a freshman at Wisconsin-Platteville this year and a member of their varsity soccer team, which participates at the NCAA Division III level. The Rinderknecht brothers helped Prairie finish with a 14-3 record last season.

"He's always given me pointers on college soccer and how it goes and how it's a different game from club and high school," said Rinderknecht. "He was a great supporter.

"He told me, 'You'll make it, but you just have to be ready and prepared for what's to come."

Rinderknecht will take his final exams at Prairie this month and turn in his books and school materials the first week of January. After that, he'll be off to college. The new semester at Nebraska-Omaha begins Jan. 11 and the move-in dates are Jan. 9 and 10.

Rinderknecht began playing for the Prairie varsity soccer team as a freshman and received all-state honors last season. He's also been a top player for the Cedar Rapids Soccer Association club program and helped CRSA win state titles in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

He's also been a member of the Olympic Development program and helped his team place second at the ODP national tournament in Phoenix last February. That's when the coaches at Nebraska-Omaha contacted him and ultimately offered a scholarship.

Now in about five weeks he'll be a college freshman.

"It's a great accomplishment," he said. "In all the years I've been playing soccer and all the hours I've put in on the field and off the field and in school, I've made sacrifices. It's really good to know I'm going to play soccer and get an education and do something that I love.

"It's nice to know all the hard work has paid off," he said. "I want to be humble, but it's a great accomplishment."

Linn-Mar senior Alexy Boehm, one of Rinderknecht's teammates in club soccer, also is taking early graduation this month and will be enrolling at George Washington University in January to join their Division I soccer program.

Rinderknecht said his one regret about leaving Prairie early is not playing for the Hawks this spring.

"Not playing at Prairie for my senior year is kind of depressing," he said. "I'm going to miss the guys and I really feel badly, but I know they'll pull through. That program is really strong and they're only going to get better.

"I made the Wall of Fame last year by making first team all-state. That was kind of my goal for my high school career. Knowing (Coach) Curt Lewis and the Prairie squad, I have no doubt they'll have a successful year without me."

Rinderknecht said he'll likely play the "center back" position at Nebraska-Omaha and hopes to crack the starting lineup as a freshman. He is undecided about a college major, but is considering communications or engineering.