BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — When Nick Foles first arrived on the University of Arizona campus in 2008, the talk of Tucson was a 6-foot-5, 230-pound sophomore with muscle rippling across his frame. By the time Foles was eligible to play the following season, Rob Gronkowski’s days at Arizona were numbered, a back injury sidelining the gargantuan tight end for what would have been his junior season. Still, the year that Foles spent watching from the sideline was a long-enough revelation.
“Back then, we knew he was a really, really special athlete,” Foles, now the Eagles quarterback, said on Tuesday afternoon.