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Rob Gronkowski, the future Hall of Fame tight end who’s currently playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, set a world record before ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s spring game by catching a football dropped 600 feet from a hovering helicopter.

Recently, Chris — who played fullback for the Wildcats and in the NFL — and his company, , signed three UA student-athletes to endorsement deals.

UA wide receiver Ma’jon Wright, safety Christian Young and softball player Jenelle Meoño were announced as the first college athletes to endorse Ice Shaker, a stainless steel shaker bottle for protein shakes and mixed drinks.

In 2017, all five Gronkowski brothers — Chris, Rob, Glenn, Gordie and Dan — went on ABC’s “Shark Tank� and landed a $150,000 investment from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Chris, the owner and inventor of — Rob is a partner — joined ESPN ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s “Spears and Aliâ€� this week to talk about the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness rules, the impact of “Shark Tank,â€� and what living at “Club Gâ€� in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ was like:

What made you want to tap into the NIL realm and pay student-athletes to endorse your product?

A: “First off, I’m jealous because we didn’t have this when we were playing, and I tell people all the time that Rob and I were living off $50 a month, which was good enough for two 30 packs (of beer). We always brought food back from the complex, we were stealing shakes out of the weight room — our strength coach, Coach Ed (Corey Edmond), would yell at us for taking home shakes, but we did whatever we could to get by at that point.

“But, man, NIL has changed everything. It allows players to get some money for their name and likeness, and being a businessman now, man, it’s a complete change. We saw the opportunity, absolutely loved it, and realized that these guys and girls on campus are big-time influencers. They’re walking around with our product and we know it’s going to persuade a lot of people on campus to also try it out as well. We’ve outfitted the entire football team with bottles in the past, then a couple weeks later we had the bookstore hitting us up for (purchase orders) for bottles to go into the bookstore. We know the power behind these players and we want to be a part of it. Also, we want to support the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ as well.â€�

What was the “Shark Tank� process like?

A: “What a lot of people don’t know is that you go through this long process and you do your due diligence, and it actually takes months to get to the day that you’re going to record. When you get there, you’re not guaranteed a recording spot. The first day I got there, there’s a guy pacing out front and he asked me if I was going to record that day and he told me that he’s been here before and never got a chance.

“So, there’s a lot that goes into it. They have no clue who you are, all they know is your name. It’s a real negotiation, and I was out there for an hour and they asked me questions about what I did in high school, college, after college, degrees — really everything. … It’s the real deal. It’s real exposure, it’s their money and they’re not going to invest in something to waste their time, because there’s a lot that goes into it. They put a lot of effort into these companies to do well. Mark Cuban has a whole team of 12 people, and he’s not going to invest in something that’s not worth his time. The process, it’s the real deal, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that once it’s done, it doesn’t mean you go chill and sit on the couch or a private island, that’s really when the work begins.�

So, is Cuban your partner?

A: “Yeah, it was Mark Cuban and Alex Rodriguez. About two years into it, Rob retired and wanted to get into the business world, so he ended up buying out Alex Rodriguez and he’s a part of the company now. It’s Rob and I and Mark Cuban.�

How much did the exposure on “Shark Tank� help your company?

A: “Everything has been good. We’ve grown significantly and we actually had a one-year update after we were on ‘Shark Tank.’ Before we hit our first episode of ‘Shark Tank,’ we had about $80,000 in sales. In the next 12 months, we hit a little over $3 million. We’ve then grown to 100 different (stock keeping units) and now we’re featured in national complexes like GNC, The Vitamin Shoppe, Lifetime Fitness, and now we’re about to enter 1,900 Walmart locations this year as well, so it gives us a nice, little marketing budget to figure out what’s next, and it allows us to sponsor athletes and do NIL deals and try it out. We’ll see how this goes. So far, it’s been absolutely amazing. … What’s cool about us is that we make custom bottles. So, we made a bottle with the players’ numbers, their signature laser engraved on the bottle, so they’re able to build their own brand up, sell their own product and they’re pumped to push it themselves. It’s a huge advantage that we have and we can turn those bottles around on the same day. It’s been cool, we’re a good brand for it, we fit perfectly into this space, especially at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. I’m pumped to see how it goes.â€�

What can you share about the Gronkowski house in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ — also known as “Club G?â€�

A: “I was surprised that the building was still standing. For the spring game, Rob broke that record with the catch from the helicopter, then we swung by the old house to see if it was still standing, and one of their neighbors came out and said, ‘Yo, I heard this is the legendary house,’ and didn’t even realize it was us. He was talking about how legendary the house was, so the legend still lives on. I don’t know who lives there now, but I think it was a family and I was like, ‘You guys gotta move, you gotta let some people party up in this house.’�

So, you had a slip-and-slide inside the house and what else?

A: “We put a hot tub in the back, which we never checked with the city or whatever, so I don’t think it was supposed to be there. We had one of our friends find an electrician to do the wiring for us, because it wasn’t green-tagged for whatever. We did have the hot tub, that was put in during the first couple weeks of when we moved in. Then the slip-and-slide started because we had this huge party, a kegger, and we spilled a bunch of beer on the ground. We had to clean it up, so we had a great idea to put a bunch of soap on the ground, then after that it got super slippery, so we just started diving through it at that point. It turned into slip-and-sliding from the front door to the back door and jumping in the hot tub. That’s how it would go down.�

How do you think NIL would have affected the Gronkowski family at the UA?

A: “It’s so interesting and it’s tough to say what it would’ve done for us. It’s going to become a powerhouse for teams that have great alumni, organizations that give these players NIL deals, because as a player, if I knew I was going to great school and get a great NIL deal on the side, that’s a huge deciding factor. I think it’s going to completely change the game, test the alumni organizations out to see who’s out there and who’s willing to throw some money out there for NIL deals. If we had that money? I don’t know, man, it probably would’ve been a bad thing. I kinda liked the fact that we had nothing and had to scrap our way through, and you learn a lot from that. Those are the times you talk about, you always talk about the hard times. You always talk about the crazy stuff you went through, that’s what made you stronger.�