It came down to two of the most storied college football programs in the country, but when all was said and done, Logan George selected The Ohio State University.

George, a former Idaho State defensive end, entered the transfer portal on Dec. 16 before spending the next week on recruiting trips, visiting Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Ohio State and Texas A&M. He announced on Monday that he chose the Buckeyes over the Sooners.

“I just felt like that is where I needed to be,” said George about choosing Ohio State. “It was a mix of the culture, the coaching and the opportunity.”

George’s father, David, who accompanied Logan on his recruiting adventure, said one of the key factors in choosing Ohio State was the presence of Buckeye associate head coach Larry Johnson. He is widely regarded as one of the top defensive line coaches in the nation.

Johnson, who has been on the Ohio State staff for the last decade after working for Penn State for 18 years, has coached 16 Big Ten Defensive Players of the Year or Linemen of the Year. That includes 14 first-team All-American linemen at both schools and nine first-round NFL draft picks, including such stars as Chase Young (New Orleans Saints) and brothers Joey (Los Angeles Chargers) and Nick Bosa (San Francisco 49ers).

Johnson also coached former Highland High School star Tommy Togiai, a defensive tackle who was drafted out of OSU in 2021 by the Cleveland Browns and is currently on the Houston Texans’ roster.

“Yeah, coach Johnson is a great coach,” Logan said. “I look forward to being coached by him.”

George, a fellow Highland High School graduate, is listed at 6-foot-5-inches and 259 pounds. He led the Big Sky Conference with 18.5 tackles-for-loss this past season, and he topped ISU with 6.5 sacks. He has two years of eligibility remaining. Besides the four schools he visited, George had offers from Wisconsin, Missouri, Boise State, Virginia, Indiana and Iowa State, among others.

Ohio State, which is playing Oregon in the quarterfinals of the NCAA football playoffs on Jan. 1, will be losing both starting defensive ends to graduation after the season. George is expected to compete for a starting spot with returnees Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson.

George is expecting to join the OSU program in early January, and he’s hopeful he can practice with the Buckeyes if they beat Oregon, although he can’t play in any of the remaining games this season. He’ll be a full participant in spring practice.

The George family is looking forward to following Logan’s exploits in big-time college football. According to David, they are already planning to go to OSU’s season-opener at Texas next August, as well as games at Washington and “The Game” against Michigan in the Big House in Ann Arbor in November.

Their one regret, David said, was not seeing Logan and his younger brother Colton play together at ISU. Colton, a linebacker who signed with Idaho State out of Highland High School last year, is on an LDS mission to Costa Rica and still plans to play for the Bengals when he returns in 2026.

As do most recruits to powerhouse football programs like Ohio State, Logan landed a name, image and likeness deal with the Buckeyes. But David reiterated that Logan didn’t get into the transfer portal for money.

“When he made the decision to go into the portal, we had no idea what schools were going to be interested in him,” said David. “The coaches couldn’t contact him, and unlike a lot of the big-name recruits, he wasn’t hearing from any of the collectives (which represent NIL programs for many of the larger schools). So getting (an NIL deal) is certainly a blessing, but it wasn’t the reason Logan got into the portal.”