Sports

Two Westover standouts sign letters-of-intent

• Lady Patriots hoops star Katori Upshaw will play for Albany State next season, while Brandon Lee signs his letter of intent with Andrew College on Tuesday at Westover.

Danny Aller

ALBANY — During the past four years, Westover High School’s Brandon Lee and Katori Upshaw have exhibited athletic talents for the Patriots’ sports programs which could’ve taken them to a variety of colleges across the country.

In the end, both chose to stay close to home.

Lee, a two-sport standout in both football and baseball, chose the latter Tuesday as he signed a scholarship to play for Andrew College in neighboring Cuthbert.

The 6-foot-1, Upshaw, meanwhile, officially became the tallest player on the Albany State University women’s basketball team’s roster when she inked with Robert Skinner’s Lady Rams.

“My mom really wanted me to stay home, and throughout my high school career I started realizing maybe I should stay at home,” Upshaw said.

“(Plus) I like how (Albany State works) together, because if you don’t have a team that works together, it’s no good.”

And Skinner said Upshaw is one he expects to be good by the time he’s had four years to develop her skills.

“She’s got great size, plus she’s a great local talent we feel that has a lot of potential,” Skinner said of Upshaw, who played center for the Lady Patriots and will be called upon to do the same thing for the Lady Rams — and soon, at that. “We hope she’ll be able to come in, learn quickly from the five seniors we’ll have on next year’s team and make an impact for us right away.”

Lee, however, will be leaving behind a coach that has felt his impact since the slugger was a freshman.

“We’ll miss him. He’s a great kid, with a great work ethic who takes a lot of pride in what he does,” said longtime Westover baseball coach Steve Bowers of Lee, who batted .360 with five home runs for the Patriots this past season, a season that ended Friday in a doubleheader loss to South Effingham — despitea homer from Lee. “Also, he’s one of those guys who is hard on himself, and so disciplined, if he’s not doing something right, you don’t have to tell him — he’ll fix it on his own.”

It was ultimately on his own that Lee, who said he plans to play third base next season, made the decision to attend Andrew after he was invited to an open tryout, which also gave the entire Lee family a good look at what the Tigers’ program had to offer.

“Me and my mom and my dad, we liked the whole school completely. We got along with everybody (and) it was like a family up there,” said Lee, an honor student who also sought out a university with close, personal attention in the classroom where he could continue his academic quests. “It is different going to a two-year instead of a four-year school because you would go into a class with 200 and 300 people. At Andrew, there will be 15-20 students. Academically, the school is a great fit for me.”

But after football season, Lee — who has starred as Westover’s quarterback since 2006 — strongly considered the gridiron over the diamond.

“I had been getting calls from South Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Georgia military (for football) — I had forgot totally about the baseball season,” Lee admitted Tuesday.

But when other players from the area, as well as his own teammate Jason Jones began signing their scholarships for football this fall — Jones went to Ole Miss while Lee’s offers weren’t as enticing — he began to turn his attention back to baseball.

“After I saw Jason and them sign for football, I thought I would see what happened with baseball,” Lee said.

With that decision, Andrew’s gain became Westover’s loss.

And Bowers says there will be some moments Lee leaves behind that in all his decades of coaching, he’ll likely never forget.

“He’s had a lot of great (athletic) moments (at the school) over the years,” Bowers began, “but for me, personally, late in this baseball season against Worth County when he hit two home runs in the same game to help us get into the playoffs — that was a major bang in my mind right there.”

After the signing Tuesday, meanwhile, Lee — in his normal modest demeanor — simply expressed gratitude to be given the chance to continue his education and baseball career at the next level.

And with good reason.

“I felt like I had to do it for me being the only man to graduate high school and go to college in my family,” Lee said.

As for Upshaw, who also had interest in attending possibly Georgia Southern or Valdosta State, Skinner’s just glad she’s now a part of the Lady Rams’ family.

“I saw her some during the year and she stood out to me, but when she came to our tryout back in early April, that’s when I really saw how she would handle herself against college- and

junior-college-level competition,” Skinner said. “She rebounded well, ran the floor well, had great court

awareness — all those things you need to have to go to the next level. And the most important thing is, she’s a smart kid who will learn fast.”

Upshaw joins a Lady Rams team that finished 16-14 last season, and is losing three starters, while Lee should have a chance to make an immediate impact as well after his future Tigers team went 23-32 last year.

Herald sports writer Paul Dehner Jr. contributed to this report.

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