diff --git a/core/build.gradle b/core/build.gradle
index 3d5e20ad3c6..22c68b21147 100644
--- a/core/build.gradle
+++ b/core/build.gradle
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ description = 'gRPC: Core'
 dependencies {
     api project(':grpc-api')
     // force dependent jars to depend on latest grpc-context
-    runtimeOnly project(":grpc-context"),
-            project(":grpc-util")  // need grpc-util to pull in round robin
+    runtimeOnly project(":grpc-context")
     implementation libraries.gson,
             libraries.android.annotations,
             libraries.animalsniffer.annotations,
diff --git a/netty/build.gradle b/netty/build.gradle
index c2bfe173d9c..81193c5c1ed 100644
--- a/netty/build.gradle
+++ b/netty/build.gradle
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ dependencies {
             libraries.errorprone.annotations,
             libraries.perfmark.api,
             libraries.netty.unix.common
+    runtimeOnly project(":grpc-util")  // need grpc-util to pull in round robin
 
     // Tests depend on base class defined by core module.
     testImplementation testFixtures(project(':grpc-core')),