Last season was understandably frustrating for Ute tight end Dallen Bentley.
There were the lowlights for the team as a whole — the Utes lost quarterback Cam Rising and a number of others to injuries and endured a seven-game losing streak — and then there were the personal lowlights as well.
Bentley had a productive spring and fall camp last year and was named a starter at tight end, but a lack of targets and production derailed the 2024 campaign for Bentley. He played 376 snaps last season, but the majority of those were blocking snaps. He was targeted just six times all season, and ended the year with only two receptions for 15 yards.
For the majority of the season, tight end Brant Kuithe was getting the bulk of the tight end targets, but it was expected that Bentley would also be in the mix. That didn’t happen, and it led to some frustrations, which were compounded by the losing streak.
“It’s frustrating. I’m really grateful for it. I learned a lot and I took a lot of big strides, but definitely frustrating on a personal level and as a team, you want to see more success,” Bentley said.
A year later, things couldn’t be more different.
Bentley is the leading tight end on the 2025 Utes, which are 4-1 heading into the meat of their schedule, and he’s the team’s second-leading receiver with 22 catches for 246 yards and three touchdowns. He’s also been a positive in the blocking game.
“He’s been able to stay healthy first and foremost,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “He’s been with us three years now, going third year. And that’s the thing that has held him back in the past is just not able to stay on the field.
“It’s my time, so I just had to step up and make plays.”
— Utah tight end Dallen Bentley
“Knock on wood, this year he’s been able to stay healthy and be out there and he’s turning into the player that we hoped he would when we recruited him. He’s, I think, one of the better tight ends in the Big 12 right now.”
Bentley’s journey to being one of the key receiving targets on a Big 12 team was filled with lots of twists and turns, but it’s paying off now.
At Taylorsville High, Bentley spent most Friday nights on the sidelines of the field until his senior year. Spurred by a huge growth spurt, Bentley earned a contributing role on the team, but in the opening game of the season, after catching a 40-yard reception, he snapped his tibia and fibula.
Bentley estimated that he was on the field for about five snaps total in his high school career.
After the heartbreaking end in high school, college football wasn’t on his radar. Instead, Bentley served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado and enrolled at Snow College with his cousin, David Sterzer, upon returning home.
“Served an LDS mission, I come back, my cousin said, ‘Hey, you want to go try out?’ And so I said, ‘Might as well, might as well try.’ So we both went over there, walked on over there, coaches loved us,” Bentley said.
Bentley walked on at Snow College and by the end of the first semester, was put on scholarship. The development at Snow College was vital for a player that hadn’t had much game experience to that point.
During the Badgers’ 2022 season, the 6-foot-4 Bentley had eight receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns, beefed up to 250 pounds, and earned NJCAA All-America second-team honors.
Coaches from across the country saw the potential in the 6-foot-4, 259-pound tight end, who received offers from Washington, Colorado, Louisville, San Diego State and New Mexico.
Utah was just coming off back-to-back Pac-12 championships and seeing how the Utes had turned Dalton Kincaid from FCS talent into a first-round NFL draft pick sealed his choice. It also helped that Bentley grew up a Ute fan and got to stay in his home state.
“They were super tight-end-heavy emphasis. The offense revolved around that a lot,” Bentley said. “Obviously, they just came off a really great season. Dalton Kincaid just got drafted in the first round, so lots of great things happening there.
“Then obviously I live close here. This is home for me. I’ve always loved the team. I love the coaches here and I love the culture that we’ve got here.”
During his first year at Utah, 2023, Bentley suffered an injury that kept him off the field for a while, and in 2024, of course, he didn’t have the season he was expecting.
In 2025, however, there was a clear path for him to be TE1.
“It’s my time, so I just had to step up and make plays,” Bentley said.
In preparation for the season with a new quarterback, New Mexico’s Devon Dampier, Bentley made a concerted effort to get on the same page with his signal-caller during player-led workouts.
“A lot of off-the-field stuff outside of practice,” Bentley said. “After we do our little conditioning, we all get together and we’ll throw the ball, practice on specific routes, so a lot of stuff inside practice and a lot of stuff outside. Just repetition.”
The time spent with Dampier outside of practice has certainly paid off for the senior tight end.
“That connection started early. I tell everybody I was surprised Dallen didn’t play as much as he’s playing now,” Dampier said. “He’s a freak athlete and very happy that he’s on my squad.”
Heading into the 2025 season, there were some questions around how offensive coordinator Jason Beck would utilize his tight ends. Beck didn’t involve tight ends much at New Mexico, but he did in his stint at Syracuse.
The messaging was clear — if you were talented, Beck would find a way to use you.
For Bentley, his talent has proven to be too much for Beck not to utilize.
“He’s just kept taking steps forward and becoming more and more familiar and comfortable in the position, playing with a lot of confidence, catching the ball well, running great routes, blocking well,” tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham said. “So I just think for him it’s been opportunity mixed with additional experience.”
Freddie Whittingham has been an integral part of Bentley’s development into the player he’s become at Utah, marked by improvements everywhere from technique to physicality to catching the ball.
“Freddie Whittingham is a great coach, super one-on-one, great guy, really cares about us and any little thing he can find to help us, he’s there,” Bentley said. “He tries to connect with us on and off the field, which is really great. And yeah, he coaches us hard, but that’s what we need.”
Bentley has made the most of his opportunities this season, starting with the first game of the 2025 campaign in the Rose Bowl. Dampier and Bentley connected on five passes for 31 yards, including his first touchdown reception as a Ute.
Since then, Bentley has notched at least two receptions in every game. He had the offensive play of the game in the loss to Texas Tech — a 44-yard reception that led to the Utes’ only touchdown of the game — and had a five-catch, 59-yard outing in the win over West Virginia.
Bentley was on the receiving end of a Dampier touchdown pass — his third of the season — that put the Utes up 28-0 at halftime.
Through five games, Bentley has proven to be Utah’s reliable option at tight end and is finally becoming the player Ute coaches thought he could be when they recruited him.
“It’s great. Obviously I’m a team guy and I want team success and that’s the most important to me, and my personal success is awesome as well,” Bentley said. “It’s the best, but you can get both, right, but super rewarding and just got to keep grinding.”
