How Dallen Bentley went from playing five snaps in high school to starting at tight end for Utah

Utah Utes tight end Dallen Bentley (88) makes a catch as Utah and Northwestern prepare to play in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

By his own admission, during much of his time at Taylorsville High, Dallen Bentley was “pretty small, kind of short and chubby, and pretty slow,” leading to him standing on the sideline during Friday nights.

Then, before his senior year, Bentley had a physical transformation. He experienced a huge growth spurt, gained more speed and was feeling confident in his game. His coaches were feeling confident in him, too, and drew up the first play of the 2018 season for him.

Bentley hauled in a 40-yard pass in Taylorsville’s opening game at Snow Canyon — his first-ever high school reception — but snapped his tibia and fibula on the play, and with that, his high school football career was finished.

It was a heartbreaking end for Bentley, who played less than five total snaps in high school.

After graduating from Taylorsville, Bentley served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado, and while college football wasn’t on Bentley’s radar after graduation, during his mission, he decided he wanted to give it a try after returning home.

With such limited high school experience, there were no schools calling to offer him a scholarship, and he walked on at Snow College. By the next semester, he had impressed his coaches so much that they put him on scholarship. Bentley may not have had the high school experience some of the other players at Snow College had, but was a natural at the position and a quick learner.

At the time, Snow College didn’t have a tight ends coach, so Bentley was coached by both offensive line coach Trever McFalls and wide receivers coach James Dye.

“The coaches are great….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/dallen-bentley-went-playing-five-184500182.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-08-26 18:45:00

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