Rob Gronkowski to serve as coach in 2021 Arizona spring football game along with Tedy Bruschi, per report

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College football spring games are mostly for show. They don’t usually tell us very much about what a team will look like in the fall, and they’ve become vehicles for fun extracurriculars. Spring practice was basically eliminated last year due to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there’s no promise that spring ball will be back to 100% this year. Still, Arizona is finding something different to do with its scrimmage, scheduled for April 24.

According to the Arizona Daily Star, former Wildcat standouts Rob Gronkowski and Tedy Bruschi will serve as coaches in the spring game. First-year coach Jedd Fisch reportedly held a video call with alumni to inform them of the spring plans, which kick off on March 23. Arizona has not yet announced the spring game specifics, and it’s not clear yet if the sides will truly be Team Gronk and Team Bruschi or if they will just assist in coaching.

Gronk, who is coming off a Super Bowl victory with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, attended Arizona from 2007-09, though he missed his last season due to a back injury. The four-time Super Bowl champ caught 75 passes for 1,197 yards and 16 touchdowns during his time in Tucson.

Bruschi was a star defensive end for Arizona from 1991-95, and was a two-time consensus All-American with 52 career sacks. He spent his entire professional career with the New England Patriots, and was a three-time Super Bowl champion. He retired following just before the 2009 season — one year before Gronkowski was drafted in the second round by the Pats. Bruschi then became a longtime ESPN analyst before returning to Arizona this year as a senior advisor to Fisch.

—CBSSPORTS