Former Gamecock defensive linemen Langston Moore and Preston Thorne have teamed up to pen a children’s book named, #JustaChicken. It’s a coming-of-age story about a chicken named Cocky, his quest to win a trophy and what he learns during the process. 
“It’s based on an old parable that I had heard over and over, and we adapted it to the Gamecock culture,” Thorne said. “We put the message on the back of the book – ‘This is the story of you; the story of me; the story of USC.’ Everybody has different things they go through when they’re coming of age. Whether it’s your job or your family or just daily life. Everyone has a journey they have to take in order to become their best.”
“To me the story is somewhat synonymous with our experience in the football program,” Moore said. “We had those seasons where we were a combined 1 and 21, but then it changed. I remember sitting in the locker room thinking ‘what do those other teams have that we don’t have?’ We were searching for something and then we found a way to do it within our own quirky way of doing things, and the program got better. It’s been a lot more fun than doing some of the other traditional ideas for a book we thought about doing first.”
Moore and Thorne also commissioned fellow South Carolina alum and current ESPN graphic designer, Kev Roche to do the art for the project.
“Doing a children’s book was always something that I wanted to,” Roche said. “I thought it would be a great opportunity. I thought it was a good idea for kids with a good message about how everyone can play an important role. I think it’s a good story.”
You can purchase #JustaChicken at MascotBook.com and Amazon.com.
H/T: Gamecocks Online