Adversity made UCLA tailback Anthony Frias IIs

His father says it all the time.

Anthony Frias II will endure a setback, like those scary months when the UCLA operating back was caught in switch portal limbo, not sure if his faculty profession was over, and he’ll hear those acquainted phrases.

It’s half of the film.

He’ll pressure in anonymity, police repeatedly coming to the door of his home at 2:30 a.m. because neighbors stored complaining about the sound of weights slamming onto the ground of the storage after another sweaty deadlift, and right here comes his father’s favourite phrase again.

It’s half of the film.

Then there’s moments like last weekend, when one thing occurs that makes this entire inconceivable journey really feel prefer it’s just getting began, like there’s so a lot left to do and so many people to inspire for the child from a tiny city in the San Joaquin Valley who once had no faculty scholarship presents.

Having been made a larger half of the offensive recreation plan against Maryland, Frias bolted for his first profession landing run. Later, with the Bruins needing to attain field-goal vary in the sport’s ultimate moments, he chugged forward for 35 yards, dragging defenders with him to set up the profitable rating.

When Frias emerged from the tunnel inside the Rose Bowl afterward to reconnect with his household, having starred inside the stadium where he once stood as a teenager with a signal proclaiming that he would play there someday, it was only a matter of time before he heard that chorus once more.

“Every time something happens, he mentions it,” the namesake son said of his father, “and it gives me a little bit more belief each time that he’s right.”

For many years, the style of Anthony Frias II’s story appeared unsure.

Would it’s a hero’s story? A drama about unfulfilled goals?

The only sure factor was the conviction of the boy and his father who believed their journey would take them nicely past the confines of Le Grand, Calif., population 1,592.

Little Anthony needed to play soccer so badly growing up that after struggling a hairline fracture in his knee that was supposed to sideline him for the remainder of the season, he made his own rehabilitation plan.

He was only 9.

Setting his alarm for 5:30 in the morning, he’d wake his father and they’d go for a 1½-mile run to a relative’s home for exercises before operating back. With his staff on the verge of its championship recreation, Anthony needed a doctor’s clearance to return forward of schedule.

One morning, he took a crumpled piece of paper to his mother in mattress. When she awoke unexpectedly, he ran away nervously. Sabrina Frias regarded at the paper, which outlined his recovery and talked about that he had been ready for this second his entire life.

Anthony Frias II was in high faculty when he stood in entrance of the Rose Bowl while holding up a signal that read, “One day I will play here!” and featured the Stanford emblem. He realized his dream of taking part in in the Rose Bowl, although it was for UCLA.

(The Frias household)

Anthony left his destiny in his mom’s fingers, asking her to make a selection — circle the “Yes” he had written alongside a completely satisfied face or the “No” alongside a unhappy face.

Her coronary heart breaking at the thought of denying her son, she circled “Yes.” Anthony went on to rating every level in his staff’s 20-19 victory.

By the time he was 13, Anthony had modeled his taking part in fashion after Christian McCaffrey, the dynamic Stanford operating back who was making a strong push for the Heisman Trophy. That made the Christmas current he acquired that 12 months — tickets to see Stanford play Iowa in the Rose Bowl — an all-time favourite.

Before the sport, Anthony’s father painted a giant purple “S” on his son’s naked chest. Together, they made a signal that Anthony held above his head while standing outdoors the stadium. It read, “One day I will play here!”

Looking back, Anthony said the signal was principally his father’s concept.

“He just knew,” Anthony said, “that I was gonna be so special.”

Few shared that perception when Anthony was popping out of high faculty.

Starring for Turlock High, which was not identified for producing high-level faculty prospects, wasn’t enough to draw curiosity past a few Division II faculties. What was the recruiters’ greatest dangle up?

“When they looked at him,” Anthony’s father said of somebody who now stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 225 kilos, “he wasn’t the guy they wanted.”

Enrolling at Modesto Junior College, Anthony shortly rose from fourth-stringer to featured tailback during the 2021 season, topping 100 yards speeding 3 times and main all California junior faculty gamers with 17 speeding touchdowns.

It was enough to earn him a scholarship offer at Kansas State.

Kansas State operating back Anthony Frias II catches the ball during a recreation against Tulane on Sept. 17, 2022, in Manhattan, Kan.

(Colin E Braley / Associated Press)

Buried on the depth chart, he redshirted during his first season with the Wildcats. The next season, taking part in principally on particular groups, Anthony hardly ever obtained more than a carry or two in any recreation. As assured as he was in his skill, it was unimaginable to keep out the doubt.

He solid forward, bolstered by his non secular religion and conversations with the daddy who also occurred to be his therapist and best pal, telling him not to fear, that issues would finally repay.

“You know, we talk it through, I’m there for him all the time,” the elder Frias said. “I’ve been there through the tears, I’ve been there through the needing to hold my son, through the questioning, ‘What more can I do, Dad?’ But he never faltered, never quit.”

He did search a new soccer home.

Kansas State operating back Anthony Frias II carries the ball while operating into the Central Florida protection on Sept. 23, 2023, in Manhattan, Kan.

(Travis Heying / Associated Press)

Before Kansas State performed its bowl recreation at the end of the 2023 season, Frias entered the switch portal. Then he waited. And waited. Months went by without a new offer to play elsewhere.

“Nobody was coming, nobody was calling, there was a moment where we were just like, ‘Man, what are we going to do?’ ” Anthony’s father said. “We just prayed and had faith, like it’s going to work out, don’t worry.”

Sure enough, the new teaching employees at Arizona, which had pursued Anthony when it was at San José State, supplied a spot as a most well-liked walk-on. That meant Anthony was going to have to take out scholar loans and pay for his own house in Tucson.

About a week before he was scheduled to transfer in, Anthony acquired a call from Marcus Thomas, UCLA’s operating backs coach. How would you want to change into a Bruin? Anthony told him that he’d need to be more than a most well-liked walk-on because in any other case he was just going to go to Arizona.

Less than 5 minutes later, UCLA offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy called. The staff agreed to cowl his tuition and residing bills through title, image and likeness funds, even though he wouldn’t be on scholarship.

Done.

When Anthony giddily walked into the Rose Bowl for the first time as a participant, during a observe before the 2024 season opener, he FaceTimed his mother and father, even going over to the seat where he and his father had watched that Rose Bowl recreation.

“That,” Anthony said, “was like the first full-circle moment that I had.”

Anthony’s first season as a Bruin largely mirrored his ultimate season as a Wildcat. There was a lot of particular groups work and only a few carries before an expanded function in the season finale against Fresno State.

Entering what’s seemingly to be his ultimate faculty season, the redshirt senior earned a scholarship but no guarantee of rising from the shadows.

As ordinary, his father wore his son’s No. 22 jersey last weekend when he settled into his seat in the household part inside the Rose Bowl, never imagining the title on the back can be one of the most talked about inside the stadium.

When Anthony took a handoff early in the second quarter, cutting a technique and then the other before breaking a deal with on the way in which to a 55-yard landing run, his every motion was accompanied by his father’s voice in the stands.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, oh dang, oh dang!’ ” the elder Frias said. “And then I stand up, like, ‘Oh!’ and I see that [defender] chase him and I’m like, ‘Come on, Ant, turn it up!’ and then he beats the guy out to score the touchdown and I just went crazy.”

With fellow operating backs Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas later sidelined by accidents, Anthony Frias obtained a few more carries. His last one, on the sport’s ultimate offensive play, captured the essence of somebody who refused to stop.

Running away from one defender who tried to grab him by the shoulders, he spun away from another before finally getting dragged down at the five-yard line to set up the profitable discipline objective on the next play.

“Just all the pain, all the suffering, all the longing, all the workouts, all the late nights, all the no-love, no-opportunity, that run signified the release of that,” his father said. “And when he came out of there, he let out his roar. He was like, ‘I won’t be denied any more.’ ”

In one recreation and only 4 carries, Anthony had piled up 97 speeding yards — exceeding the 91 yards he had tallied in the three earlier seasons mixed.

“He made the most of the situation,” UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper said. “He made critical plays — I mean, we’re not just talking he got some first down or something, he made critical, impact, explosive plays that changed that game and for that to happen for him, it couldn’t have happened to a better person.”

Later, rising from the tunnel main to the same spot outdoors the Rose Bowl where he had held that signal over his head nearly a decade earlier, Anthony flashed a smile that his father had never seen before when he reached a jubilant throng of household and mates.

“It just was all the years of the grinding and the behind-the-scenes stuff that I’ve been going through,” Anthony said, “and you know, getting opportunities here and there doing different things and showing that I could do more.”

Everyone shouting his title, ready their flip for a hug, the only factor lacking was a climactic rating and rolling credit.

You know what his father would say about that.