By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor 

In the ever-shifting and heavily saturated world of high school recruiting, new rankings and lists come out with a high degree of consistency. Over the course of the last four months, those lists have shown two trends pertinent to athletes in Shelby County. One, that Pelham’s Alex Reese’s stock is rising, and two, Spain Park’s Austin Wiley is still viewed as one of the most coveted prospects in the nation for the class of 2017.

The pair of juniors are two of the highest-ranked basketball prospects in the state. Wiley has been a perennial top-10 name for the last several months, and comes in on the latest Hoopseen.com 2017 list as the 15^th best prospect in the country. The 6-foot-10-inch center is two spots ahead of J.O. Johnson standout John Petty, and the two are teammates on the AAU team Alabama Challenge. This is five spots lower than Wiley was ranked in the Scout.com list that came out in late June, but this slight drop is no cause for concern, especially considering he has spent the summer in part nursing a bum knee.

Reese has come on the national scene more recently than Wiley. The 6-foot-9-inch power forward shot up more than seven inches in the last two years, and his stock has risen just as fast. From being relatively unknown after his sophomore season ended, Reese comes in at No. 50 on the recent Hoopseen.com top 50 list for the 2017 class.

Scout.com currently has Wiley listed as the fourth-best center prospect in the nation for the junior class, and Reese listed as the eighth-best power forward prospect. The two big men, along with Spain Park combo guard Jamal Johnson, currently listed as a four star prospect by 247sports.com, highlight a super-talented junior class in the county.