Gamecock Student-Athletes Continue Academic Excellence in 2025 Fall Semester

Student-Athletes at the University of South Carolina ended the Fall 2025 semester with a departmental grade point average (GPA) of 3.51, the second highest semester departmental GPA in program history (Spring 2020 – 3.70).

This marks the department’s 38th consecutive semester with a departmental GPA above 3.0.

The cumulative grade point average for student-athletes in each sport since they arrived at Carolina is 3.52, which stands as the highest cumulative GPA ever for Gamecock student-athletes. In addition, department named 105 student-athletes to the President’s List for earning a 4.0 GPA, 194 student-athletes to the Dean’s List (3.5 GPA) and 435 to the Athletics Director’s Honor Roll (3.0 GPA).

“In this new era of intercollegiate athletics, the commitment to being a student-athlete has not changed,” said Athletics Director Jeremiah Donati. “Our student-athletes work hard at their athletic craft and in the classroom. We appreciate their hard work and the efforts of our academic services staff for the outstanding support they provide our student-athletes. Also, we are incredibly appreciative of our Gamecock Club members whose philanthropic giving helps fund scholarships, meal and housing costs, medical expenses, and other areas of support.”

“To have 38 consecutive semesters of a 3.0 GPA is a result of the culture of excellence that has been developed by our student-athletes,” said Charlie Ball, Senior Associate AD for Academics. “The Dodie Academic Team is dedicated to the academic accomplishments of our student-athletes, which helps build a foundation for career success.”

All 18 teams earned a 3.0 GPA or higher for the semester for the second time in program history. Women’s Tennis had the highest team GPA for the fall at 3.77, followed closely by Men’s Soccer at 3.71, and Equestrian at 3.70.

A total of 26 student-athletes graduated after the Fall semester, with 262 student-athletes earning degrees during the last four semester graduation exercises (since Spring 2024).

Team – Fall 2025 Semester GPA
Baseball – 3.49*
Men’s Basketball – 3.36*
Women’s Basketball – 3.56
Beach Volleyball – 3.69
Equestrian – 3.70*
Football – 3.28
Men’s Golf – 3.54
Women’s Golf – 3.64
Men’s Soccer – 3.71
Women’s Soccer – 3.69
Softball – 3.63
Men’s Swimming and Diving – 3.70*
Women’s Swimming and Diving – 3.69
Men’s Tennis – 3.05
Women’s Tennis – 3.77
Men’s Track and Field – 3.51*
Women’s Track and Field / Cross Country – 3.30
Volleyball – 3.54

* – Highest semester GPA in sport program history

The Fall 2025 Semester continued a history of academic excellence for Gamecock athletics. A snapshot of recent successes include:

* From 2015-16, South Carolina leads all schools with 4,225 members in the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll. South Carolina led all schools in the SEC Academic Honor Roll in seven of the last 10 years and in top 3 in the remaining three years.

* Ten Gamecocks earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors in 2024-25, the most ever for USC in the history of the Academic All-America program (previous high: 7 – 2013-14 & 2008-09). A total of 53 Gamecocks earned CSC Academic All-District honors in 2024-25.

* Two Gamecocks earned conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in their respective sports. Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk was the SEC Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Louise Rydqvist earned the SEC Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors.

* All University of South Carolina’s countable intercollegiate sports posted a multiyear score of 950 or better, according to the Academic Progress Rate (APR) statistics for the 2023-24 academic year. Carolina had 13 sports reach a perfect single-year score (1000) for the 2023-24 academic year, the second highest total ever by Gamecock Athletics, only behind 14 sports total in 2015-16. Sixteen of the 18 sports maintained or improved on their previous year APR scores. Eleven of the 18 measured sports surpassed the national multi-year average while volleyball registered a perfect single-year score for the 11th-straight year. Beach Volleyball continues its streak of perfect APR scoring since the NCAA started collecting data for the sport.

* USC athletic programs tied for third in the Southeastern Conference in the latest Graduation Success Rates (GSR), which measures the number of scholarship student-athletes that graduate within a six-year period of their initial full-time enrollment. For the report, the GSR is based on student-athletes who entered college in the fall of 2017. South Carolina’s athletic teams had a 94 percent score, which tied with Auburn University and the University of Mississippi in the SEC behind Vanderbilt (96) and Alabama (96). South Carolina’s Football GSR score (95) ranked second among SEC schools and South Carolina schools. It tied for ninth among all Power 4 schools.