BALTIMORE -- Reade Seligmann, one of the three former Duke lacrosse players cleared of rape charges, will attend Brown University in the fall and play lacrosse for the Bears.

"I hope to make them proud of accepting me as a student," Seligmann said today in a statement provided to The Associated Press by his attorney, Jim Cooney. "I am looking forward to just being a student again."

Seligmann's announcement came a day after the Blue Devils lost to Johns Hopkins 12-11 in the NCAA championship game in Baltimore.

"I appreciate the support and loyalty of my teammates and coaches at Duke," Seligmann said. "I will miss them. I know that they will understand why I cannot return to Duke. I have been proud to be a part of their team and I am grateful for the support they have given to me over the past year."

In a statement this afternoon, Brown University Dean of Admission James S. Miller said the university's Board of Admission "carefully evaluated Reade Seligmann's application, as well as the applications of nearly 1,100 other highly qualified transfer candidates, and voted to offer him admission to the college as a transfer student. We expect that he will begin his studies at Brown in the fall of 2007."

Asked this afternoon why Seligmann chose the school, lawyer Cooney said that "academics was the priority for him" and that Seligmann, who was an honors student at Duke, had "considered a number of outstanding universities" before deciding on Brown.

And, he added, "Reade felt very comfortable with the people and the students there."

Seligmann and fellow players Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans were indicted last spring on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense, after a woman told police she was attacked by three men at a March 2006 team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.

The season was canceled, and Seligmann and Finnerty, both sophomores, were suspended. Evans graduated the day before he was indicted.

But the case began to unravel as the woman changed key parts of her story and DNA of samples taken from her body failed to match any member of the team. The rape charges were dropped in December, and Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong stepped aside from the case the following month amid charges he breached professional ethics.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper last month declared the trio innocent and said they were the victims of a "tragic rush to accuse."

Seligmann and Finnerty were invited back to Duke once it became clear the case against them had no merit. Finnerty remains undecided on where he will attend school this fall, but told the AP Monday he hoped to decide soon.

Seligmann spent the last year out of college, volunteering as an assistant lacrosse coach at Delbarton School, the Roman Catholic all-boys high school in Morristown, N.J., where he graduated in 2004.

During that time, he remained in touch with coaches at several other upper-echelon schools about the possibility of transferring. Coaches familiar with Seligmann describe him as a talented athlete and good student who would fit in well in the Ivy League.

"Reade's a good kid, bright," said Penn coach Brian Voelker, who spoke with Seligmann after the allegations surfaced, but did not have a roster spot available. "I wish him the best of luck."

Princeton coach Bill Tierney said he would have been interested in Seligmann but could not recruit him away from Duke because his school does not admit transfer students.

"He's a big, strong kid who's a great player," Tierney said. "I've always admired Reade as a young man. We would have loved to have been able to pursue it, but we couldn't."

Recent Brown graduate Heather Peterson, of Weston, Mass., said she had mixed feelings about Seligmann's decision to attend the university.

"To accept someone who's had such a scandal in connection to their name, who's basically probably coming for athletics, seems sort of strange to me," she said, despite believing he deserves no punishment after being cleared of wrongdoing.

Her sister, Brown staff member Gretchen Peterson, said she was proud Seligmann selected Brown.

"I hope that that is reflective of our openness to accept people based on fact and not based on conjecture or how things get spun by the media," she said.

Seligmann's announcement came a day after Duke lost to Johns Hopkins 12-11 in the NCAA championship game in Baltimore. Brown finished the season with a 7-7 record.

His move to Rhode Island will put him closer to his former Duke coach, Mike Pressler, who was forced to resign following the allegations. Pressler recently completed his first season as head coach at Division II Bryant University in Smithfield, about 10 miles from Providence. He declined to comment through his agent Tuesday.

Pressler is releasing a book June 12 that he co-wrote about the case, entitled: "It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered."

-- With reports from projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney