Welcome to the brand new looking NextUpRecruits.com, and welcome to our latest bi-weekly installment, the NextUp Report. We will take you around the high school and college basketball landscape giving you the news and notes on this early Tuesday morning.

ferguson, wright pick sec

Even though the SEC traditionally is not thought of as a recruiting powerhouse in basketball, Alabama has continued an upward trend in changing that mindset, starting on Tuesday by earning the verbal pledge of five-star talent Terrance Ferguson.

Ferguson, ESPN's eighth-ranked player, chose Alabama Monday and becomes the first player in the 2016 class for the Crimson Tide. This commitment comes just 24 hours after fellow 2016 five-star talent Mustapha Heron verbaled to Auburn.

Alabama and Auburn were not the only Southeastern Conference schools to get the attention of the nation on Monday, as Mississippi State also gained a verbal commitment of shooting guard Eli Wright.

Wright is the 34th-ranked SG in the 2016 class, according to Scout. The Kentucky-native chose the Bulldogs over Florida and UConn.

giles plans blue-blood tour

Nearly a month after leading his CP3 team to the semifinals of Nike's Peach Jam, five-star talent Harry Giles has set his official visit list, per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. There is no shortage of Final Fours or National Championships on Giles list, as he has visits planned for: Wake Forest (Sept. 19), North Carolina (Sept. 25), Kansas (Oct. 10), Kentucky (Oct. 16) and Duke (Oct. 31).

There is a feeling that he may be saving the "best for last" as Giles is seen by a Duke lean by many, considering his relationship with current guard Derryck Thornton and 2016 commit Jayson Tatum, but nothing is out of the picture with the CP3 star.

willie jackson sets visits

After announcing at the end of July he would release his list of top schools in a couple weeks, the 2016 OBC forward has announced his official visits, per his AAU program director Mike Duncan.

The Garfield Heights-star has four visits set up: Temple (Sept. 10-12), Missouri (Sept. 18-19), Boston College (Sept. 25-27), Penn State (Oct. 9-11).

Jackson averaged 5.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while playing for King James AAU earlier in the summer.