From the Desk of Jeremiah Donati, No. 6 – University of South Carolina Athletics

DEAR GAMECOCKS:

As the academic year has officially concluded and we wind down the athletic year, I hope your summer is off to a great start! Our department has accomplished a lot over the last six months and we are carrying a lot of momentum heading into the fall.

HOUSE v. NCAA SETTLEMENT

In case you missed it, last Friday, Judge Claudia Wilken officially approved the House v. NCAA settlement, which will fundamentally change how college athletics departments around the country operate. The settlement paves the way for us to directly share revenue with our student-athletes, allowing them more opportunities than ever to financially benefit during their participation in college athletics. To learn more about the settlement and how it will affect college athletics, check out my From the Desk special edition.

NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fourteen track and field student athletes are currently out in Eugene, Oregon competing in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship. Good luck to all of our student-athletes competing!

KICKING OFF FOOTBALL SEASON IN ATLANTA

Our football team will open the season in Atlanta on Sunday, August 31 against Virginia Tech in the Aflac Kickoff Game. We need all of Gamecock Country to help us paint Mercedes-Benz Stadium Garnet & Black. If you don’t have your tickets yet, there’s still time to get yours for the Labor Day Weekend matchup. See you in the ATL!

SOFTBALL SUCCESS

Congratulations to this year’s softball team on their tremendous accomplishments. They made a great run achieving a national seed for the first time in modern program history and hosted both the NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals. A special congratulations to head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard for being named the National Coach of the Year by D1Softball.

HALL OF FAMERS

Congratulations to Coach Dawn Staley who was inducted into FIBA Hall of Fame and Landon Powell (former baseball student-athlete) and Shannon Johnson (former women’s basketball student-athlete) who were both inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame last month.

MOMENTUM

As of today, we have had 13 of our 21 teams either finish the season or are currently in-season (track & field) ranked in the Top 25 of their respective sports, with five of our teams being ranked in the top 10. Our teams finished the year with 65 wins against Top 25 opponents, including 26 wins vs. Top 10 teams. I look forward to our teams building on this success for years to come.

FRANKIE GOES TO THE US OPEN

Congratulations to men’s golf redshirt junior Frankie Harris who punched his ticket to the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club last week after finishing as co-medalist at final U.S. Open Qualifying. U.S. Open play begins today, so be sure to tune in and cheer on Frankie.

CONGRATS TO OUR STAFF

Our creative video teams picked up 13 SVG College Sports Media Awards nominations and walked away with two wins at the annual SVG/NACDA College Sports Media Awards. Our Football Communications Staff also received the Super 11 Award given by the Football Writers Association of America.

Sport & Story’s the Brew won the Best Newsletter at the 2025 Digiday Media Awards. In addition to their working bringing you great content through Gamecocks Plus, they also create a daily newsletter, The Cock-A-Doodle Brew keeping you updated on all things Gamecocks.

The Brew is free to subscribe to, so visit gamecocksbrew.sportandstory.com/subscribe to sign up today.

I hope that you and your family have a great summer and I appreciate all you have done to welcome me and my family into Gamecock Country. I look forward to continuing to get to know all our amazing fans and can’t wait for the next athletic year to begin in a few months.

FOREVER TO THEE!