Ballage still exploring options

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Kalen Ballage committed to Arizona State in mid-December, but never once entertained the idea of shutting down his recruitment. The four-star athlete's pledge to the Sun Devils was always soft. His visit tour went on and he checked out other schools.

Even with an official visit to ASU now in the books, it seems as though his final decision won't come down the pipe until the last minute. Arizona State may very well hang on, but it will need to calm its nerves while it does so.

Ballage hasn't spoken much publicly as of late, but Trevor Hudson, who once coached the Rival250 athlete at Falcon (Colo.) High School, doesn't mind breaking it down.

"I think he's going to make a final decision on signing day, but he's still leaning toward Arizona State," Hudson said. He's still with them. He's just taking these visits and checking out all of his options."

Ballage has visited Washington and Nebraska since committing to ASU. He even squeezed in an unexpected trip to Colorado on Sunday. And while it once seemed that the Buffaloes had been totally ruled out, apparently that's not exactly the case.

Not yet, anyway.

"Colorado has just maintained persistence," Hudson said. "What I mean by that is that they just kept at it. He decided to at least take a visit and take a look. I don't know how it went yet, but I do know he took it. He is just making sure he is making the right choice, but he still loves Arizona State and loves what they have out there."

Next up is Ballage's final visit - the one many think represents the biggest threat to his current commitment status. A final decision will likely follow the Rivals250 prospect's return from UCLA, and how things may go is anybody's guess.

Ballage has interest in UCLA, and there's no question that the semi-recent offer from the Bruins grabbed his attention. His trip to Westwood is the big one.

"He's going to sit down with all of his options and make it official when he gets back from UCLA," Hudson said. "He should know sometime after that last visit, but he's still committed to Arizona State."

Rob Cassidy is a West Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.

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