Anthony Russo (born December 6, 1997) 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 wi ...

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 ...

. He played college football for

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. He also played for the

San Antonio Brahmas The San Antonio Brahmas are a professional American football team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the XFL, owned by RedBird Capital, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia's Alpha Acquico, LLC. History The XF ...

of the

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College career

Temple

In 2016, Russo took a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...

year after not appearing in any games for

. In 2017, Russo made his college football debut as a field goal holder against No. 15 UCF in the season finale. In 2018, Russo entered the season as the backup but gained the starting position by week two and lead the team to a 7–3 record—only missing the season finale before returning for the bowl game. He threw his first-career

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 Amer ...

against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Against

Heisman The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

candidate

McKenzie Milton McKenzie Milton (born October 10, 1997) is a former American football quarterback who previously played for the Florida State Seminoles of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the University of Central Florida (UCF) of the American Athletic Confere ...

and UCF, he threw for a career-high 52 pass attempts, 31 pass completions, 444 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, twelve rush attempts, and 46 rushing yards. The team lost the 2018 Independence Bowl 27–56. In 2019, Russo started every game for the Owls; leading the team to an 8–5 record. In 2020, Russo was named to the Golden Arm Award watchlist. He started the first three games of the season before an injury and

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

ended his season early. On December 3, 2020, Russo announced he would transfer from Temple.

Michigan State

In 2021, Russo transferred to

and competed with, and lost to, Payton Thorne for the starting position. He played in two games for the Spartans:

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

and

Youngstown State Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges an ...

. In his debut against Youngstown State he came in relief and completed five of his seven pass attempts for 43 yards.

Statistics

Professional career

San Antonio Brahmas

On November 16, 2022, Russo was selected by the

of the

in the

2023 XFL Draft The 2023 XFL Draft, is the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL, and the second draft in that league's history following the 2020 draft. The draft was held on November 15–17, 2022, wit ...

. On January 22, 2023, Russo was released by the Brahmas during roster cuts.

Massachusetts Pirates

On April 1, 2023, Russo signed with the

Massachusetts Pirates The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...

of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

(IFL). Following an injury to starter Alejandro Bennifield, Russo took over and lead the team to an undefeated season at home. He announced his retirement after the 2023 season.

References

External links

Massachusetts Pirates bio

Michigan State Spartans bio

Temple Owls bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Anthony Living people 1997 births Players of American football from Pennsylvania People from Doylestown, Pennsylvania American football quarterbacks Temple Owls football players Michigan State Spartans football players San Antonio Brahmas players Massachusetts Pirates players