- The Gamecocks landed the most student-athletes on the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll  for the fifth consecutive year with a school-record 79 student-athletes (including 31 football players, also the league high). We also led the conference with the highest number of student-athletes on the Spring Academic Honor Roll and the First-Year Academic Honor Roll.

- With the Fall 2010 semester Gamecock student-athletes set a new record for the highest departmental GPA ever at 3.146.

- Women's Golf led the way with a 3.568 GPA last fall, followed closely by Women's Swimming & Diving (3.512) and Women's Tennis (3.497).

- For the spring semester, 58 student-athletes earned a perfect 4.0 GPA and, with that, a spot on the President's List, while 161 were named to the Dean's List. 334 student-athletes, more than half of the student-athlete population, were named to the Athletics Director's Honor Roll (3.0 GPA).

- Two teams, Women's Tennis (3.576) and Men's Swimming & Diving (3.279), achieved their highest mark on record this spring. The Women's Tennis GPA was the department high for the spring.

- Football broke their own record for the third consecutive year, posting their highest GPA ever (2.779) this fall. They followed that up with their second-highest GPA ever this spring (2.711).

- Thirteen of South Carolina's athletic programs, including Football, ranked above the national average in the latest report of Academic Progress Rate (APR) statistics released May 24, 2011.

- Eight Gamecock student-athletes were named Capital One Academic All-Americans in 2010-11.

Ray Tanner, head coach of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team, spent almost two hours with the Soldiers answering questions, signing autographs and posing for photos.

"I always talk to groups about adversity and realism and perspective and those kinds of things. (But) you guys know far more about that than I do," Tanner told the Soldiers.

Before answering questions about the Gamecocks championship run and other topics, Tanner shared stories with the Soldiers to explain his approach to coaching and life in general.
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Sgt. Addison Brown, a WTU Soldier who was involved in organizing the event, said that, as a Soldier, he could relate to Tanner's attitude.

"It's never about him. It's never about what he's accomplished. It's the bigger picture," Brown said. "You can relate to that more as a Soldier, because when you go on a mission, it's not about you."

Brown said that he knows from experience that visits like Tanner's can have a positive effect on Soldiers.

"When I was wounded (in 2007) we had different people coming to our unit. I didn't know them (all), but just to have someone who is a celebrity in the community or outside the community come and boost the morale. that's what it's all about," Brown said.

Col. John Nerges, Moncrief Army Community Hospital's deputy commander for nursing, shared a similar sentiment.

"These (Soldiers) today will remember the day they got to meet Coach Tanner, and it'll mean so much to them," Nerges said. "You can't buy it with money. This is an irreplaceable experience. (What) it does for morale in these Soldiers, you can't measure it."