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Thursday was one of the wildest days of Korey Rush's life.

At long last, the highly-touted East High School defensive end made a choice on where he'd play college football — he chose Arizona State University — but before he called Sun Devils coach Todd Graham and informing him of his decision, Rush's friends at East found out where he decided to commit to.

The news spread like wildfire.

"Everybody knew about it before I actually called coach Graham and officially committed," Rush said. "It kind of looked bad on my part, but I've always had the feeling about Arizona State and didn't see a point about waiting anymore."

Rush said he chose ASU over Utah, BYU, Utah State, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Idaho and Washington, which is quite the impressive laundry list of suitors.

Arizona State was the first school to recruit the senior-to-be and he said that made a lasting impression when the school made its first contact with Rush in May 2012.

"People have been asking me, 'If someone bigger comes along, would I reconsider?' My answer is no," Rush said. "I wasn't just going to jump the gun if I wasn't sure."

He said the fact that the Sun Devils took a chance to become one of the first to toss their name in the hat of an undersized defensive end from Utah went a long way in terms of the recruiting process.

"I just have a really good relationship with the people there," he said.

Rush said he's visited ASU twice; once during a basketball camp and the other for a football camp. The 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive end who racked up 14.5 sacks in 2012 said his family basically lives on the University of Utah campus and said he felt like he needed to get out.

"I love my family, obviously, but I wanted to get out on my own and experience the world, but not be too far away from them," he said.

Rush will anchor a East defense that was stout in 2012. The Leopards made it to the 4A semifinals a year ago and lost to eventual 4A champions Timpview.

As a senior in the fall, Korey Rush will enter his senior season with the recruiting circus behind him having firmly cemented his next stop on his football journey.

"It's a weight lifted off my shoulders in the sense that I'm locked in there and that's exciting," he said.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani