GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Anthony Rubio knows a thing or two about going viral on social media. And you likely know where this story on Florida’s walk-on running back is going to start.

It was an improbable exclamation point on the Gators’ late-season turnaround that only weeks earlier seemed impossible.

“That was an awesome and emotional moment for me,” Anthony said the other day after practice.

 

The moment happened in the Gators’ victory over Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl in December. With the Gators in control and eager to put away a fourth-straight victory and head coach Billy Napier‘s first UF bowl win, the seldom-used Rubio took a handoff from quarterback Aidan Warner, darted to his left, burst through the Green Wave defense and bounced off a tackler near the goal line for a 9-yard touchdown.

Rubio’s teammates rushed into the end zone to join the celebration, which featured a spike of the ball and then a dance as the TV cameras zoomed in on the 5-foot-9, 184-pound player in the No. 25 jersey.

Anthony’s father, then-Florida Senator Marco Rubio, boosted awareness of his son’s unlikely touchdown by posting a comment on X.

“Happy my son scored,” wrote Anthony’s dad. “But what I am truly proud of is the joy from his teammates and that he gave all the glory to God.”

Somewhere in Miami, Don Chaney Sr. saw Rubio’s run and grinned. Chaney, a former player at South Carolina and longtime high school coach in South Florida, had Rubio as a player at Miami Belen Jesuit Preparatory School.

He first saw Anthony play as a kid on the Miami-area flag football fields, where up-and-coming players fill the rosters of local high schools as they progress in their development. All he knew about Anthony was what others told him: Hey, that’s Marco Rubio’s kid.

Chaney noticed much more than the name.

“When that guy puts on that helmet, toughness just explodes out of him,” Chaney said. “He had swagger as a youngster. It wasn’t show. He is probably one of the toughest pound-for-pound kids you will ever meet in your life. He is one of those guys that if you tell him he can’t, look out, because he can.”

For anyone who has watched Anthony at a UF practice or perhaps seen him at Saturday’s scrimmage at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, maybe a comparison to another recent viral video on social media came to mind.

It made the rounds a few days ago. A black bear entered a house in Vancouver in search of food. As the bear strolled around the house, suddenly a tiny Pomeranian came racing from another room and chased the creature out the door and through the backyard.

Sometimes bulk is blown out of proportion.

“Maybe my shortcoming was my size,” Anthony said. “But I was always able to match [opponents] with my speed and agility.”

 

In search of more knowledge about Anthony’s unlikely spot on a Florida roster loaded with highly-recruited prospects and a talented backfield that includes Jadan Baugh and Ja’Kobi Jackson, you reach out to Marco Rubio and hope that you might hear back from the UF graduate.

When you get a response, you schedule a tentative interview. A few weeks after Anthony’s viral flash in the Gasparilla Bowl, Marco Rubio entered the world of 24/7 virality when the third-term Florida Senator became U.S. Secretary of State in the Trump Administration.

Marco Rubio was born in Miami and grew up there after his parents immigrated from Cuba in 1956. He passed along his passion for football to Anthony. Marco Rubio played at South Miami High and spent a season at NAIA Tarkio (Mo.) College before the school folded due to financial hardships in 1992. He returned to Florida and eventually arrived at UF to finish his undergraduate degree as Steve Spurrier built the Gators into a national power.

On a recent afternoon, you received a text stating that a Washington, D.C., phone number would be calling at exactly 12:30. Your cell phone rings at precisely that time.

Caller: “This is the White House Situation Room. We have Secretary Rubio looking for Mr. Carter.”

Callee: “Yes, I’m here.”

Caller: “Hold on one moment, and I’ll connect you with the Secretary.”

Less than a minute later, you are on the phone asking Marco Rubio about football and the oldest son of his four children.

“He’s a much better player than I ever was,” Rubio said.

Like countless fathers and sons, the Rubios watched games on TV together and tossed around the pigskin in the yard. Anthony played baseball, basketball, soccer and ran track growing up, but football owned his heart.

Yes, like his father Anthony was on the small side on the field, but he could move and make tacklers miss and played with an attitude. And he had a big dream. He wanted to play for the Gators if the opportunity ever arose.

“I grew up in a Florida family, a UF family,” Anthony said. “Football is very big, not only in my family but outside my family, including my cousins and my uncles. Every year when FSU would play UF, we would have a party and everyone would wear different shirts. My family always represented the Gators.”

Marco never pushed Anthony in any direction. He coached him up on strategy and what it took to succeed, passing along the same message to his son that he has shared with other young players in the Miami-Dade area at speaking engagements over the years.

“We’ve always seen football as a tool for preparing you for life,” Marco said. “Don’t let football use you. You use football.”

When Anthony began to draw interest from smaller schools near the end of his time at Belen Jesuit, Marco brought him to a Gators camp to give him the experience of being around a Division I program. Anthony soon made up his mind. He chose to walk on with the Gators over smaller programs that offered him a better chance of playing regularly.

Chaney, his high school coach, wasn’t sure which path Anthony would take. Still, he was confident that whatever input Marco provided would be grounded in thorough research and understanding of how the game works at the next level.

“His dad is very knowledgeable football-wise. The guy knows X’s and O’s,” Chaney said. “He can talk the talk. He’s not just a fan. He understands it.”

 

Anthony joined the Gators before the 2023 season and has spent the majority of his career on the scout team, providing the defense with a shifty challenge to stop at practice.

He runs toward and around hulking defensive linemen the way that Pomeranian chased the giant black bear.

“He’s a great back. He runs downhill. He runs outside zone. Anytime you’ve got the ball in his hands, you’ve got to break down,” said defensive tackle Caleb Banks. “He’ll juke you. We’re glad to have him over there helping us get better.”

Anthony’s mission is simple and direct every time he puts on his helmet and pads before practice: to make a positive impact any way he can.

That usually means waiting his turn behind Baugh, Jackson and Co. In an era where players often enter the transfer portal at the first sign of adversity, Anthony is seeking ways to make a difference in his role.

“My part, right now in this moment, especially with a very talented and arguably the best running back room in the nation, my job is to play scout, and I do that to the best of my ability,” Anthony said. “I try to give the best fits as possible, and I always am consciously trying to have the defense reload so they can re-do it and learn something new, and correct a mistake they had before.”

Napier has watched Rubio add about 20 pounds of muscle since joining the team and develop into a threat when he touches the ball. He sees a motivated young man who excels at whatever he puts his mind to.

Rubio is on schedule to earn his undergraduate degree in education science in two and a half years at the end of the fall semester. He plans to go to law school eventually.

“He has absolutely made our team better,” Napier said. “He’s gotten bigger and stronger. He had documented speed coming in, and he was a really productive high school player. I think what I’m most impressed with is his relationship with his teammates. I think over time, he has earned their respect with how hard he practices. He knows what to do when he does get an opportunity to get out there, and he’s been productive.

“And on a personal level, I think he has been able to connect with our guys. He’s got a healthy amount of respect in our locker room.”

Chaney is not the least surprised.

“You check every box with him if you want a guy like that on your team,” Chaney said. “He can adapt anywhere. That guy will be friends with a snail.”

As Marco Rubio answers questions about his son, he cautions that you might want to talk to others about Anthony. After all, he is a proud parent and can’t help but speak glowingly about what Anthony has accomplished.

His son makes good grades, gathers friends like apples off a tree, is a team player and is willing to put in the work when no one is watching.

Anthony could have taken the easier path on the field and in the classroom, but that’s not him.

“You’re in a program where the players at your position are all four or five stars. He understands where he’s at,” Marco Rubio said. “He’s playing and practicing with guys that are going to be playing on Sundays. His goal in life is not to be a team mascot or in the team picture. And that’s why I admire him because he had a choice. He could have been a 100-carry guy at the FCS level. But he wanted to be part of this experience and challenge himself.”

 

The life of 20-year-old Anthony Rubio is at an extraordinary stage. Regardless of whether he ever makes another visit to the end zone or gains another yard, his college years will be remembered as part of his family’s legacy by historians.

He is playing major college football at his father’s alma mater as Marco Rubio travels the world as President Trump’s chief foreign affairs advisor during a time of conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War.

“I always tell him that you’re a member of the best fraternity at the University of Florida,” Marco said. “A very unique opportunity.”

But inside the locker room and on the practice field, you would never know Anthony went on the campaign trail when his father ran for President in 2016 or knows his way around the White House and Capitol.

He could be visiting Washington one day and riding his scooter down University Avenue toward practice the next.

“He’s got a good level of humility about him,” Napier said. “He has a respect for the office. I think he has respect for his dad’s service. In my conversations with him, there’s a sacrifice that comes with that in terms of his life and the way he has grown up, and what he can and can’t do. I think he has a good perspective on that.”

It’s the only life he’s known.

An existence that has become more visible than ever over the past few months, thanks to a viral moment in a bowl game in Tampa. His mom, dad, and younger brother were there that day at Raymond James Stadium.

After the game, they reveled in the moment before Anthony headed back to campus with the team, and his family drove home to Miami.

Meanwhile, Chaney chuckled at Rubio’s touchdown dance but celebrated as if he were part of the Rubio family.

“Anthony is an amazing ballplayer and person,” Chaney said. “He wanted to be at Florida. That kid is committed until the end.”

With the start of his junior season on the horizon, Anthony has a plan for life after football, but he is less sure about his football career. He has no idea when his next carry will come. He will do what he always does. He’ll wait his turn, put in the work and drip with sweat.

He might not go viral or see himself on ESPN, but that’s not why he plays. Walk-on running back Anthony Rubio is here to serve and take advantage of an opportunity he once could only dream about.

“I’ve been here for three years and I believe this specific year I’m most prepared out of all three,” he said. “I know the playbook very well, and if the time comes where I’m needed, I know I’m going to be 100 percent ready.”