'IT'S PART OF THE MOVIE'

Anthony Frias II has overcome years of being underestimated to break out as a Bruins back

- BY BEN BOLCH

THE FRIAS FAMILY gathers for a photo in front of the Rose Bowl before a game. Anthony Frias II previously played for Modesto Junior College and Kansas State.

(Courtesy of the Frias family)

His father says it all the time.

Anthony Frias II will suffer a setback, like those scary months when the UCLA running back was stuck in transfer portal limbo, unsure if his college career was over, and he'll hear those familiar words.

It's part of the movie.

He'll strain in anonymity, police repeatedly coming to the door of his home at 2:30 a.m. because neighbors kept complaining about the sound of weights slamming onto the floor of the garage after another sweaty deadlift, and here comes his father's favorite phrase again.

It's part of the movie.

Then there's moments like last weekend, when something happens that makes this whole improbable journey feel as if it's just getting started, as if there's so much left to do and so many people to inspire for the kid from a tiny town in the San Joaquin Valley who once had no college scholarship offers.

Having been made a bigger part of the offensive game plan against Maryland, Frias bolted for his first career touchdown run. Later, with the Bruins needing to reach field-goal range in the game's final moments, he chugged ahead for 35 yards, dragging defenders with him to set up the winning score.

When Frias emerged from the tunnel inside the Rose Bowl afterward to reconnect with his family, having starred inside the stadium where he once stood as a teenager with a sign proclaiming that he would play there one day, it was only a matter of time before he heard that refrain 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 genre of Anthony Frias II’s story seemed uncertain.