The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazer Baseball Announces Signing Of Ryan Ussery
4/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 28, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Ryan Ussery, an outfielder from Pope High School in Marietta, Ga., has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend UAB and compete for the Blazer baseball program beginning with the 2009-10 academic year.
Ussery is currently in his fourth season as a member of the varsity team at Pope High School, where he has hit better than .300 each season for coach Jeff Rowland. As a senior, he is hitting .367 with a .483 on-base percentage for a Pope team that is ranked first in its region and second in the state of Georgia.
Ussery was named Pope's MVP as both a sophomore and a junior. His best statistical year was his sophomore campaign in 2007 when he hit .407 with three home runs, 22 RBI and a .716 slugging percentage. He hit .382 and was a perfect 9-for-9 on stolen base attempts as a junior in 2008.
"Ryan is, in most baseball people's opinion, one of the premier high school hitters in the greater Atlanta area," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "He will be an excellent addition to our team and should absolutely challenge to start as a freshman.
"Ryan is not only a good hitter but also a complete player who will use his foot speed to defend the outfield and to pressure opponents on the bases. For those who have followed our program, we would compare Ryan to Phillip Bell, who was a four-year starter at UAB and a key player in our coaching staff's first two years at UAB."
Ussery is also an accomplished summer league player, having competed for the highly respected East Cobb Baseball Club. He was named the MVP of the East Cobb Astros (17-U) in 2008, playing for coach Wes Fields, and he played last fall for the East Cobb Titans (18-U) and coach Jamie Crane. His 16-Under team won the Perfect Game BCS National Championship, and that team also advanced to the Elite Eight of the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Tournament and the Final Four of the CABA World Series.
The son of Ron and Deborah Ussery, he has also excelled in the classroom, where he has maintained a 3.5 GPA.
"Ryan is another excellent student who has proven he can and will get the job done in the classroom, and we believe he is a high character young man that will fit right in with what we are trying to do," Shoop said. "Ryan has played at the highest level of both high school baseball and summer league baseball for some of the South's outstanding coaches, so we believe he will make the transition to C-USA baseball very quickly."
In the current signing class, Ussery joins Charles DiBella (Germantown, Tenn./Houston HS), John Frost (Decatur, Ala./Decatur HS), Jacob German (Hoschton, Ga./Mill Creek HS) and Mason Hutchins (Daphne, Ala./Daphne HS), who signed with the Blazers last fall during the early signing period.
