It came down to the last minute for Tyrell Smith.

The Lacey High School lineman and his teammate, tight end Jordan Powell, signed national letters of intent to play football in college on Wednesday morning. While Powell had settled on his choice – the University of New Hampshire – a few weeks ago, Smith made his final decision just hours before the signing ceremony – surprising even his coach, Lou Vircillo.

Smith, a 6-foot-5, 298-pounder who helped the Lions reach the state playoffs for three straight years, formally committed to the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday morning, the first day that athletes across the country could sign binding letters of intent to play sports at particular colleges.

“I thought he was going to Nevada,” Vircillo said to Tanya Smith, Tyrell’s mother, who attended the signing ceremony in the conference room of high school principal William Zylinski, along with Tyrell’s younger brothers.

“It was a last-minute decision,” Smith said, with UMass winning out because he felt he would be happier there.

“Both had nice facilities, both are good schools,” Smith said. “I just felt like this (UMass) was the place.”

Powell, a 6-foot-3, 225-pounder who also played linebacker for Lacey, considered Towson University in Maryland, but said his official visit to the New Hampshire campus sealed his decision.

“I fell in love with the campus,” said Powell, whose mother and stepfather, Dawn and John Grosh, attended the ceremony. “The players are so tight. They have each other’s backs.”

Powell caught six passes for 131 yards and a touchdown as Lacey reached the South Jersey Group III semifinals last fall. On defense, he had 52 tackles, three sacks, an interception and blocked a punt and a field goal as Lacey held its opponents to 16 points per game. The Wildcats, who play football in the Colonial Athletic Association, were 8-4 last fall and reached the second round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

“This is big,” John Grosh said. “He’s the first in the family to go to college.”

“It feels surreal,” said Dawn Grosh, who said she’s already begun mapping out trips to New Hampshire football games. “I know where all the hotels are.”

“We’ve been giddy for weeks,” she said.

Tanya Smith said she didn’t have a preference on which school her son attended.

“I didn’t want him to choose based on what he thought I wanted, then get there and realize he didn’t like it and end up saying he went there because I wanted him to,” she said. Having him closer to home was a nice outcome, she admitted.

“I will most definitely be going to games,” she said.

Smith, who had 23 tackles and four sacks last fall, plans to study business management at UMass. The Minutemen are moving from the Atlantic 10 to the Division I-A Mid-American Conference from the Colonial Athletic Association. UMass has won 22 conference titles, the last one in 2007, and won the Division I-AA national championship in 1998.

Both players expect to be redshirted and sit out next year, but said they are excited about the future.

“It’s a dream come true to play college football,” said Powell, who battled MRSA at the start of his senior season and who’s considering a major in sports studies. “Just knowing I won’t have to pay off student loans is a great feeling,” he said, as Smith nodded in agreement.

“They zeroed in on a couple of very nice institutions,” Lacey football coach Lou Vircillo said, adding this is just the beginning for both players. “They have the ability to be coached up, but it’s very much up to them” to make the most of the opportunities they’ve received, Vircillo said.

As the families stepped out the front door of the high school so their sons could get on with the business of school, a rainbow shown in the sky to the west.

“It’s a sign,” Dawn Grosh said with a grin. “The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

And the promise of a bright future for two young men.