Rubio used to be. In fact, he was a conservative hero, the next coming of Reagan. Did he change? I don't know but I'll wager that you give Cruz the same amount of time in the Senate and posters here will be dumping all over him, too. It's inevitable.
True conservatives are hard to come by because there aren't any.
Personally, I don't think there's a nickle difference between the two.
Problem is, Conservatives are always inventing heroes because conservatives, in general, are easily dazzled by talking points and a few core issues. Just because someone is a "minority" and claims to be a conservative doesn't mean they're really any good. Carson, Cruz et al. are preferred by the GOP because they will give us TPP. That's trillions of dollars of money on the line, and their donors and the GOPe want it, they want it bad, as well as the cheap labor provided by a dysfunctional border.