Owen Pappoe had his choice of any elite football program in the nation, but in the end, the Georgia native could not turn down his love of one program. Following a heated recruitment that got very interesting in the end, Pappoe committed to Auburn over Georgia.

Regarded as one of the best prospects in the nation, Pappoe spent the early portion of the spring visiting making stops all across the country and SEC hoping to pin down a final decision. Following trips to LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Penn State, and Texas, it was time to make a decision for the Grayson High School product.

Pappoe was among the four Grayson standout players to announce their college decisions during an announcement ceremony on campus Tuesday evening. The elite linebacker was joined by fellow linebacker Kevin Harris, offensive lineman Wanya Morris and safety Kenyatta Watson in making their public commitments.

The 6-foot, 209-pound Pappoe is rated as a five-star prospect, the No. 8 overall recruit in the nation and the top outside linebacker by 247Sports Composite Rankings. The long-time Georgia lean currently holds 13 SEC scholarship offers — only Arkansas has yet to offer him — along with Clemson, Florida State, Ohio State, Notre Dame and many others.

In an interesting note, Pappoe is the first recruit to ever be invited to Nike’s The Opening Finals three times. Most elite prospects only earn that invitation once in their career and few have been awarded that distinction twice.

While his recruitment has not officially come to an end, he’s suggested he still plans to take official visits in the fall, Pappoe has just given Auburn arguably the biggest recruiting victory of the 2019 recruiting cycle on May 1.