Dalton Restelli admitted recently that he had a lot of “growing up” to do last year as a freshman football player at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Some of that was the Baylor School graduate adjusting to a change in offensive philosophy. In high school, he was more of a receiving target for the Red Raiders while helping them win the TSSAA Division II-AAA state title his senior season, but playing tight end for the Mocs means a lot of blocking — and sometimes it means going whole drives without the ball ever coming your way.
Restelli has also never been afraid to push the envelope in practice, which led to the occasional scuffle. That’s not unheard of in football, even among teammates, but with a year of learning behind Evan Brown, whose final UTC season was last fall, and current seventh-year senior Jay Gibson, he has found himself in a position to contribute for the Mocs.
“I think Dalton is one of the guys on our team that probably has had the biggest turnaround from freshman year to this year,” tight ends coach Zeb Speir said. “He’s still got a long ways to go, and he knows that, he’d be the first to tell you that, but when he came in, he was more of a receiver, so he’s learning how to block, and the game’s more physical because he’s blocking a lot more than he was in high school.
“Honestly, he was getting pushed probably harder than he’s ever been pushed, and so his freshman year was a big adjustment, but he’s done a great job of handling that. He’s starting to mature more, he’s starting to understand the game some more. He’s still got a ways to go with that, but you never reach that goal, right?”
It took a lot of work on himself for Restelli to get to this point, both on and off the field.
His 6-foot-4 frame carried about 215 pounds last year, and UTC coaches challenged him to put on 20 to 25 quality pounds, something he’d done before. Speir forced him to send daily pictures showing what he was eating — not only to know that he was consuming enough calories but that he was eating the right things — and the result was Restelli doing such a good job that Speir eventually told him he didn’t have to send the pictures anymore.
He’s currently listed at 230.
Maybe he was going to play some this season and maybe he wasn’t, but when Gibson and Wayne State transfer Nathaniel Eberly-Rodriguez both got banged up in the season-opening loss at Tennessee two weeks ago, an opportunity presented itself and Restelli responded. He hauled in a 1-yard touchdown pass for the first catch of his UTC career in the 24-21 loss at Georgia State last week while splitting time with freshman John McIntyre.
Restelli, who didn’t exercise any of his eligibility while redshirting last season, called the moment “awesome,” having seen his hard work pay off.
“It’s his process of learning,” UTC head coach Rusty Wright said. “He had never played a whole lot for us, played in four games or whatever sprinkled in last year, but the last two weeks, he’s had to be a part, and then last week he had to be a bigger part because of what happened to Jay. It took him realizing, ‘Oh crap, I’ve got to go now,’ and then he practiced better last week.”
Wright hopes that habit sticks. After back-to-back games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, the Mocs open their Southern Conference schedule this week as Mercer (2-0) visits Finley Stadium at 6 p.m Saturday. It will be a matchup of nationally ranked teams in the Football Championship Subdivision, with the Mocs 14th in the Stats Perform Top 25 and 16th in the coaches poll and Mercer 23rd and 24th.
“I told him he can’t wait until this happens to be ready,” Wright said of Restelli’s response to injuries to other tight ends. “You have to continuously get in, and I think that kind of clicked with him. These young guys grow up at different times, in different stages, and you can’t get frustrated with it — even though we do — but you have to give them a chance to grow and get better.”
GoMocs.com photo by Laura O’Dell / UTC redshirt freshman Dalton Restelli scores a touchdown with the first catch of his Mocs career during last Saturday’s game at Georgia State. Restelli helped lead Baylor School to the TSSAA Division II-AAA state title in 2022 before signing with UTC.The mental side has been important in him coming along, with Speir saying Restelli is finally “understanding what we’re trying to get accomplished in the run game, or why your depth matters on a route, or why you have to run around a certain way versus a certain coverage, because it’s not just line up and run a route like you did in middle school and high school and all that. At times, there’s a reason why we’re running a certain depth, and so he’s starting to understand those things.”
Restelli has grown comfortable in his role, too.
Tight end isn’t a statistically glamorous position at UTC — last season, Gibson, Brown and Camden Overton (who has since transferred to Gardner-Webb) combined for 21 catches, 198 yards and two touchdowns — so he understands making the most of every opportunity. When asked about his goals at UTC, though, he talked about wanting to win the SoCon every year and making deep runs in the playoffs while being a great teammate and a great player. He also said he had no personal goals.
Is that change? Sure seems like it.
“It’s no longer about the individual,” Restelli said. “In high school, I felt like it was: ‘What can I do this game to make my stats better and this and that?’ — and then the more you learn about the game … I mean, my knowledge of just football in general has changed so much, coming from high school to college and just understanding the game and how everything works.
“I mean, making that block to me is honestly just as good as scoring that touchdown. Everybody in the stands, they might not see it, but the people that matter to me, they see it, and that’s what I like to do, honestly. It’s definitely a change, going from feeling like you’re going to get the ball every play to knowing that you’re going to have to hit somebody every play, but I feel like it’s a good adjustment.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.