With the commitment of four-star Rivals250 athlete Kalen Ballage Arizona State has ascended to the top of the conference team recruiting rankings on Rivals.com later in a recruiting cycle than any point in history.

The Sun Devils have never been ranked No. 1 in the Rivals.com team rankings in December dating through the history of such tabulations.

ASU is also No. 19 nationally in the latest overall team rankings. It hasn't finished in the Top-20 since the 2002 class, but Rivals.com's formula was different then and included points for all commitments.

ASU had 31 commits in the 2002 class, before current rules that curb the number of offers schools can award in a given calendar year.

More recently, ASU finished No. 21 nationally in 2008, it's highest rating in the last decade.

The Rivals.com formula used in the rankings only counts a school's 20 highest ranked recruits.

ASU leads the Pac-12 primarily because it has 20 commitments. USC, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon and Washington have higher per-star rating averages among their current commits, but none of those schools has more than 16 current commitments.

With an average commitment rating of 3.1 stars, ASU is within striking distance of its best per-star average in history if it can reel in another couple of four-star prospects between now and signing day.

In 2008, ASU had a 3.15 average recruit star rating and in 2003 it established its record of 3.17.

Ballage is one of five current ASU commits with a four-star rating by Rivals.com and its third Rivals250 pledge, joining Connor Humphreys and Derik Calhoun.

ASU hasn't signed five four-star prospects in a class since 2010 and has never signed more than six, which it did in 2008.