K-State’s Glenn Gronkowski can’t escape questions about brother Rob and ‘Gronk Cruise’

Former Kansas State fullback Glenn Gronkowski is out to make a name for himself, which won’t be easy. He learned this first-hand Thursday when he met with reporters for 17 minutes at the NFL Scouting Combine.

The youngest of five Gronkowski boys, three of whom played in the NFL, Glenn was peppered with questions about one of his brothers, New England Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has a knack for making as many headlines off the field with his fun-loving, partying ways as he does on the field with his rare size and athleticism.

After Glenn Gronkowski answered a few questions about his versatility — the 6-foot-2, 239-pounder is trying to sell himself to NFL teams as a tight end and core special-teams player — he was asked eight straight questions about Rob.

For instance — does Glenn think teams have asked him about his personality and lifestyle because of Rob?

“Yeah, most likely,” Glenn Gronkowski said. “He’s crazy, obviously, he likes to have fun. I’m probably not as much fun as him. That’s kind of hard to beat. I think it definitely comes with the family, though. It’s fun, though.”

The next question: Was Glenn on the now-infamous “Gronk Cruise,” which Rob made headlines for last week?

“I was not on the cruise, unfortunately,” Glenn Gronkowski said. “Seen some pretty fun videos from it, though.

“Yeah, I’ve actually been asked about the cruise probably 50 times since I’ve been here so far. I definitely get a lot of those questions … it was mostly joking around. They didn’t really dig into it too much.”

And then came more questions pertaining to his last name.

“No, I don’t mind it all,” Glenn Gronkowski said. “I mean, all my brothers, they deserve all the respect they get from everybody. Like I said earlier, I’ve seen all the hard work they’ve put in first-hand. They definitely deserve everything they got. I love being part of the family and all that, so I can’t complain about it.”

Gronkowski has been saying the same things since mid-January, when he competed in the Senior Bowl. The whole time, he’s been trying to sell teams on what he can do for them on the field, rather than his now-famous last name.

“I think I can be very versatile, very dynamic,” he said. “Basically go off of the Senior Bowl, I think that’s basically what I can do … played H-back, played fullback, played tight end, played slot receiver, ran routes, caught some balls, blocked, just doing all that stuff.”

Gronkowski, who said he expects to go as high as the first round but could also see himself being an undrafted free agent, started all 13 K-State games as a redshirt junior in 2015, rushing 11 times for 45 yards and a touchdown. He also caught five passes for 76 yards and a touchdown, all while lining up exclusively at fullback.

“Once again, obviously, (I) didn’t too much of that in college — was more mainly a blocker in college, mainly lined up in the backfield at fullback,” Gronkowski said. “But I think I can definitely contribute in a lot of different ways.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 4:08 PM with the headline "K-State’s Glenn Gronkowski can’t escape questions about brother Rob and ‘Gronk Cruise’."