USA TODAY International Edition
Ex-Wildcats Gronkowski, Foles face off
Kyle Quinn’s first impression of Rob Gronkowski came on the practice field — and it was about what you might have figured.
“Talk about an intimidating force,” says Quinn, who was an offensive lineman at Arizona, a position that provided an up-close view of a “physical specimen.”
Conversely, Quinn recalls Nick Foles as a comforting presence, whose long hours of preparation and constant positivity made him “the quarterback you want to play for.”
Gronkowski and Foles will face off in the Super Bowl for the Patriots and Eagles, respectively. But long before that, their careers intersected as teammates in Tucson, even though they never actually played together.
After tearing up the Pac-12 as a freshman and sophomore, Gronkowski sat out his junior season in 2009 while rehabbing a back injury, then left early for the NFL draft the next spring. That was the season Foles, who had transferred from Michigan State to Arizona, took over the starting job; he went on to throw for more than 10,000 yards in three seasons in the Air Raid offense.
“People don’t realize what those guys did,” says former Arizona coach Mike Stoops, who recruited both players. “These guys just balled.”
Despite injuries, Gronkowski’s play was routinely spectacular. After 28 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman, he had 47 catches for 672 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore. He averaged 16 yards per catch. When healthy, he was a matchup nightmare for defenses.
“He just had a unique skill set,” says Stoops, now Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator. “He’s fearless. He’ll block. He just plays. He does what you tell him to do. He just goes and plays. … We never got to see the full potential, obviously.”
But they saw plenty in two seasons. One of Quinn’s memories is of Gronkowski lined up in the slot, taking a screen pass and outrunning defensive backs downfield.
“You don’t see tight ends doing that,” says Quinn, who spent the last three years as an offensive graduate assistant at Arizona. “It’s crazy what he can do. … They tried to double-team him as best they could. When you have the middle of the field taken up by a linebacker and a safety, it’s like, ‘Wow, what can you not do with him.’ ”
In the run game, Quinn says Gronkowski “was like having a sixth offensive lineman.
“He would take defensive ends and just wash ’em down better than most tackles would,” Quinn says. “He made our run game really good. And in the pass game, he was almost unstoppable.”
Gronkowski has gained attention away from the field for his, uh, fun-seeking antics; the nickname “Gronk” seems fitting. At Arizona? Yeah, he was already Gronk.
“He was as fun-loving and carefree as any human being I’ve ever been around,” Stoops says. “He had a great three years at Arizona, I promise you that. … He enjoyed college.”
Stoops says Gronkowski occasionally neared lines but never crossed them.
“He’s very conscious of not making bad decisions and putting himself or his teams in harm’s way,” Stoops says. “He’s very smart.”
Quinn says Gronkowski compartmentalized.
“He always showed up,” Quinn says. “He wasn’t loud or an obnoxious guy in practices. He put on pads and worked like everybody else. He stood out because he’s such a physical specimen.”
And come game day, Quinn says, Gronkowski was locked in.
“He gets off the bus, he’s not clowning around,” Quinn says. “He’s got the same look on his face and nothing seems to faze him. He may drop a pass or run a wrong route, but he bounces right back. His body language was never negative.”
Drafted in the second round by the Patriots, Gronkowski has reached five Pro Bowls. Stoops says he told Patriots coach Bill Belichick before the draft, “he was gonna be a special player.”
“Don’t get distracted by Gronk’s ways,” Stoops recalls telling Belichick. “When he steps on the field, he’s as good as I’ve ever seen.”
After arriving at Arizona, Foles lost a quarterback competition to Matt Scott before the 2009 season. But he came on in the third game after Scott struggled and quickly became the Wildcats’ undisputed starter. Quinn and Stoops describe him as a cerebral, even-keeled leader.
“People don’t realize how tough he was,” Stoops says. “We didn’t have the best of teams at all times, but he would stand in there and deliver the football. A very courageous man. He’d hang in there and deliver the football accurately. Nick, shoot, he just kept doing his thing.”
Quinn credits Foles’ success in college — and now, in the NFL — to his disciplined habits. Together, the quarterback and center spent long hours studying opponents’ defenses.
“We were the last two to leave the building every night, every play we could find,” Quinn says. “We always wanted to be on the same page. I’m pretty positive he hasn’t changed the way he is.”
In 2011, Foles’ senior season, Quinn was the only returning starter on Arizona’s offensive line — more than that, he was the only lineman who had ever started, period.
“You knew what he was getting into,” Quinn says, “but he didn’t see it as a negative thing. He saw it as an opportunity.”
Foles was a third-round pick by Philadelphia in 2012 and went to the Pro Bowl in 2013 — after he threw 27 touchdown passes against only two interceptions — but was traded to St. Louis in 2015.
He spent time there and in Kansas City before returning to the Eagles this season as a backup. He moved into the starting role only after Carson Wentz suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament late in the season but has led the Eagles to the Super Bowl.
“Sometimes you don’t know how quarterbacks translate to the NFL,” Stoops says. “So much is predicated by the offensive line, the skill (around them). … But I knew he had it in him.”