Dalton Restelli had always fancied himself as a wide receiver. But incoming Baylor head coach Erik Kimrey had a vision that was different and would cause Restelli to change everything, including his body.
Kimrey saw a potential Division I football player, but that would include moving to tight end, where Restelli could use his athleticism to best help the Red Raiders. So the rising senior -- fresh off a knee injury that took the majority of his 2021 season -- started to put on weight to move down the line.
So, almost daily, Restelli ate. And ate. And ate. He briefly grew tired of his mom Kymberly's spaghetti, although he admits now he "still loves it." He would wake up daily to a protein shake and two in the evening, as well as the occasional one after a workout.
As a result, Restelli put on 30 pounds of muscle and became a 6-foot-5, 235-pound prospect for the eventual Division II-AAA state champion Red Raiders. That led to college options, and he eventually put pen to paper and signed with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga program, joining Cleveland defensive back D.J. Adams as local players joining the program.
But to get to this point, he had to listen to Kimrey -- and trust.
"I was a little disappointed at first when I heard it because I was hoping to be a wide receiver," Restelli said this week. "But after looking at the offense and after talking to the coaching and looking at what he wanted to do and how he wanted to use the tight end position, I was very optimistic and it changed my perspective on that position.
"I started looking forward to it a little bit more and I'm glad that it happened."
It also didn't hurt that Restelli was putting his faith in a guy who has been successful everywhere he's been. Kimrey came to Chattanooga with a high school coaching record of 194-20 and 12 state championships while coaching at Hammond School in Columbia, South Carolina. He parlayed that into a positional role coaching...you guessed it...tight ends at the University of South Carolina, where his starter in 2021, Jaheim Bell, was second-team All-Southeastern Conference.
"I love what a tight end brings to an offense in terms of forcing defenses to cover an extra gap up front but also have to worry about a receiver," Kimrey said. "Dalton is a total package; UTC is getting a really good kid who hasn't even come close to brushing surfaces as far as potential yet."
Restelli grew up in Soddy-Daisy before moving downtown around the age of nine, and started going to UTC football games. Ironically, that's the one time in recent memory that the Mocs have been a consistent playoff participant, having gone consecutively from 2014-16. That's the standard that he's hoping to be a part of, with the program currently right on the cusp, having just been left out of this year's 24-team field.
"There was just something about being there, and staying where I am just feels right and that has a lot to do with the coaching staff at UTC," Restelli said. "As soon as they started talking to me, I felt like I was home; it really didn't take much convincing of them, just how they treated me.
"The things that Coach Wright and the whole coaching staff has accomplished just made me feel really good about that option. I'm at a loss for words for how lucky I am to get the opportunity to play there and to play with the people there and to be put in the position to help that team in the future. I went to four or five games this year and I can tell that they have what they need, with some little bits missing.
"And I feel like that'll change soon."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.