With the play over and the crowd noise fading, Rob Gronkowski stood on the sideline and admired his work.
He looked up to the replay screen at Arizona Stadium, where No. 48 had caught the ball near the 30-yard line and trucked over Alfonso Jackson. The Washington State strong safety — who had a kill shot on Gronkowski one minute into the fourth quarter — instead bounced off the freshman.
Jackson suffered a concussion. Gronkowski scored a touchdown.
"Everyone said I hit people out and knock them over," he said. "I don't even notice; I keep running."
Jackson had tried to bowl over Gronkowski, but the tight end said flatly, "I didn't notice it."
The rest of the crowd did. The 57-yard touchdown catch and run capped the best night of the 18-year-old's young career.
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Gronkowski caught four passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns against Washington State on Saturday night. His first score came with about 10 minutes left in the first half on an 18-yard pass from quarterback Willie Tuitama.
Before the game, he had caught only five passes for 95 yards.
UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes did not get a clear view of the 57-yarder from the sideline, but he said he knew something good had happened.
"I knew he ran through him, ran around him, ran over him, whatever," he said.
Gronkowski benefited greatly from Washington State's defensive strategy — and the UA's surprising switch to a run-heavy, single-back attack.
With the Wildcats pounding the run, WSU's linebackers "started to creep up a little," Dykes said. The Cougars played a lot of Cover 2, with their two safeties splitting the field in half behind the linebackers.
Later in the game, WSU's linebackers crashed closer to the line to try to stop the run.
"That opens up a big patch of grass for him as well," Dykes said.
WSU safety Husain Abdullah made it sound much simpler.
"We game-planned well for the pass game, but they countered well with the run," he said. "When we came up for the run, they went over the top."
Saturday, Dykes talked about the evolution of Gronkowski, who grew up in Buffalo and played his senior season in Pennsylvania before becoming one of the most tantalizing recruits in UA history.
Gronkowski had only 152 receiving yards as a senior in high school because his team ran the ball a lot. He has eclipsed that already this season.
How good could Gronkowski be? When Dykes was hired to coach the UA in the off-season, he watched video of Gronkowski in high school on his first day.
Gronkowski's only struggle Saturday came on the soon-to-be-legendary touchdown catch. After plowing through Jackson, he had nothing but daylight — and almost tripped on the chalk line.
"My feet just gave out," he smiled. "I'm like, 'No!'
"I just caught up with my feet, and I scored."
And Jackson laid on the ground, motionless.
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