Reidel Clarence Anthony (born October 20, 1976) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1997 to 2001. Anthony played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and received consensus All-American honors. He was a first-round pick in the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

, and played professionally for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

of the NFL.

Early years

Anthony was born in

Pahokee, Florida Pahokee is a city located on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,649 in the 2010 census. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 57% of the residents of Pahokee were African American and 33% ...

, in 1976.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Reidel Anthony
Retrieved September 15, 2012. He attended

Glades Central High School Glades Central Community High School is a high school located in Belle Glade, Florida. In the 2014–15 school year its enrollment numbered 992 students. It is known for having one of the best high school football teams in the nation, with more foo ...

Belle Glade, Florida Belle Glade is a city in south-central Florida and it is the far western part of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, on the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 17,467. Bel ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players
Reidel Anthony
. Retrieved September 15, 2012. and he was a stand-out high school football player for the Glades Central Raiders. He is the son of former

South Bay, Florida South Bay is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is the westernmost municipality in the South Florida metropolitan area. The population was 4,876 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau ...

mayor Clarence E. Anthony.

College career

Anthony accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a wide receiver and a key target in head coach

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former American football, football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

team from

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

.
2012 Florida Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 69–71, 77, 84, 88, 90, 92, 95, 98–100, 104, 121, 142–143, 150–154, 156, 157, 160, 165, 176, 189 (2012). Retrieved September 15, 2012. Anthony showed his stuff as a freshman in Spurrier's "fun 'n' gun" offense in 1994, when he caught an 87-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

pass from Gators

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Eric Kresser Eric Joel Kresser (born February 6, 1973) is an American former college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL) for five seasons during the 1990s and ear ...

against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. As a junior in 1996, he played an instrumental role in the Gators' 12–1 national championship season, catching seventy-two passes to lead the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) with 1,293 yards (an average of 18.0 yards per

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...

), and setting the SEC regular season record with eighteen touchdown catches. Both Anthony and his fellow Gator wideout,

Ike Hilliard Isaac Jason Hilliard (born April 5, 1976) is a former American football wide receiver Who most recently served as the wide receivers coach for the Auburn Tigers (NCAA). He played college football for the University of Florida, and earned All-A ...

, were first-team All-SEC selections and earned consensus first-team All-American honors. During his three college seasons, the Gators won three consecutive

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

s in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, and

. In the aftermath of his All-American junior season and the Gators'

Bowl Alliance The Bowl Alliance was an agreement among college football bowl games (specifically the Sugar, Orange, and Fiesta Bowls) for the purpose of trying to match the top two teams in a national championship game and to provide quality bowl game matchups ...

national championship victory over the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

, Anthony decided to forgo his final season of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

eligibility and enter the NFL Draft. He finished his college career with 126 receptions for 2,274 yards and twenty-six touchdowns (a career average of 18.0 yards per reception). His eighteen receiving touchdowns in 1996 remains the Gators' team record and was the SEC record until it was surpassed by

Ja'Marr Chase Ja'Marr Anthony Chase (born March 1, 2000) is an American football wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU, where he won the Fred Biletnikoff Award and the 2020 College Fo ...

and

DeVonta Smith DeVonta Smith ( ; born November 14, 1998) is an American football wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, where he recorded over 1,800 yards with 23 touchdowns as a ...

in 2019 and 2020 respectively. The scores are tied for third with

Justin Jefferson Justin Jamal Jefferson (born June 16, 1999) is an American football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU Tigers football, LSU and was drafted by the Vikings in the first ...

. In a 2006 series written for ''The Gainesville Sun'', Anthony was recognized as No. 17 among the 100 all-time greatest Gators of the first 100 years of Florida football. He was inducted into the

University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame includes over 300 former Florida Gators athletes who represented the University of Florida in one or more intercollegiate sports and were recognized as "Gator Greats" for their athletic excellence ...

as a "Gator Great" in 2009.

Professional career

His home state Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose Anthony in the first round (sixteenth pick overall) of the 1997 NFL Draft, and he played for the Buccaneers for five seasons from to .National Football League, Historical Players
Reidel Anthony
Retrieved September 15, 2012. In , Anthony recorded thirty-five receptions for 448 yards and four touchdowns. In his fourth game, Anthony became (and still remains) the second youngest NFL player ever to record a touchdown reception (20 years, 336 days). In , he set career highs with fifty-one receptions for 708 yards and seven touchdowns. In perhaps his finest game as a Buccaneer, Anthony recorded 126 receiving yards with two touchdowns against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

on November 15, 1998. During the year, he also finished eighth in the NFL in all-purpose yards, totaling 1,869 yards. In , Anthony had thirty receptions for 296 yards, and scored one touchdown. In , Anthony had fifteen receptions for 232 yards and four touchdowns. In his final NFL season in , he recorded thirteen receptions for 162 yards. Anthony finished his five-year NFL career with 144 receptions for 1,846 yards and sixteen touchdowns.

NFL statistics

Receiving Stats Kickoff Return Stats

Life after the NFL

Anthony currently is the offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Glades Central High School in Belle Glade, Florida. He was formerly the receivers coach for the Celtics football team of Trinity Catholic High School in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

. He is also a contributing writer to the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

-affiliated fan site GatorCountry.com as its official offensive analyst. Scot and Reidel ready for the snap
" GatorCountry.com (July 19, 2010). Retrieved September 15, 2012.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Reidel 1976 births Living people People from Pahokee, Florida Sportspeople from the Miami metropolitan area Players of American football from Florida American football wide receivers Florida Gators football players All-American college football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Coaches of American football from Florida High school football coaches in Florida