Anthony Baxter arrived at South Carolina already standing out in one unusual way: the Gamecocks freshman offensive lineman is a two-time published children’s author.
Baxter was one of the featured readers at the annual Pigskin Poets event in Columbia, where hundreds of children came to the Gamecocks’ indoor practice facility on Friday to hear USC freshmen read books aloud. Baxter didn’t read one of his own titles during the event - he split one of the library’s selections with teammate Aiden Harris - but his own work was still very much part of the day.
“I wrote two children’s books called ‘The First Quarter (Adventures)’ and ‘The Second Quarter Adventures,’” Baxter said. “When I was younger, I couldn’t read as good, and I wanted kids that are younger to start reading early.
“So I wrote two children’s books. I’m going to finish the whole series, but I’ve written two so far, and I want them to read young so they can learn more.”
The books are available on Amazon, and both were published within a month of each other starting in August 2025, while Baxter was wrapping up his career at South Pointe High in Rock Hill.
What he described was a process that went far beyond sitting down and dreaming up a story. He and his mother brainstormed ideas in the kitchen, he chose the title, and then came the harder part: finding an illustrator, getting the artwork done, publishing the books and pushing through writer’s block while still balancing high school football and the grind of staying at 340 pounds on the offensive line.
At 6-foot-4 and 340 pounds, Baxter goes by “Squirt,” and his books carry a message of self-confidence, being comfortable in your own skin and refusing to quit.
“Me and my mama sat down in the kitchen, and we thought about some ideas to write a book, so we jotted down, brainstormed a lot of things, and I decided on the name. I wanted the name to be the best name,” Baxter said.
“I love reading to kids. Back in Rock Hill, I read my book to a lot of kids, and I’m glad to read any book to anybody.”
His longtime friend and South Pointe teammate J’Zavien Currence said Baxter had been talking about becoming a novelist for years, so seeing the books in print still felt like a surprise.
“He kind of surprised me because we always talked about it, and then he kind of popped out with it. Then he made another one,” Currence said.
“Very proud of him following what he said he was going to do. Very proud of him giving back to the community.”
Baxter’s books drew plenty of attention from his new teammates, too. After he mentioned he’d written two, several freshmen crowded into his room, and he later read one to them. That turned into a group reading in front of the full freshman football class and the volleyball team.
For Baxter, the connection between writing and football comes naturally. He calls himself a perfectionist and said he won’t walk away from a word or paragraph until it feels right.
“I’m a perfectionist,” he said, describing the process when he’s stuck on a word or paragraph, but won’t leave the desk until he finds a solution. “I want everything to be perfect.”
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