I was fortunate enough to attend the Academic Awards Banquet for male athletes last night in the Erwin Center.  First off, congrats to all the young men who recieved awards last night.  It's not easy to be a great student and a great athlete.  But I wanted to especially bring attention to the presence of Michael Griffin.  Despite his exciting weekend and all the promise of his future career, he still boarded a plane Sunday evening to be able to be in Austin for this ceremony.  The football team had several athletes receiving academic awards so the crowd was holding applause as each name was called out.  This wasn't the case with Michael Griffin.  He got quite the applause from the crowd in appreciation of his continued academic dedication.  

If this doesn't show strong character I don't know what does.  Even though he and his family are set financially for a long time to come, he still values his education and (at least I'm inferring) his experience at the University of Texas.  This is a huge reflection on his own character but also his family and even the coaching staff and the athletics department support staff.  

Again, congrats to all the recipients but a special congrats to Michael Griffin.