By: Mike Still (@mikestill94)
Feature photo caption: Kastellanos evades a defender while with Dakota. Photo by Ruth Bonneville
Andreas Kastellanos is a smart, detailed and team-oriented football player, but his successful career on the gridiron almost never happened.
“I started playing tackle football for St. Vital when I was in grade four. I was put on the offensive line and I hated it,” he says. “I remember the first year, I wanted to quit because I just couldn’t do it.”
But Kastellanos pushed through. Naturally, as the years went along, he got taller and fitter. Originally he was placed at receiver and running back, not moving to defensive back until grade eight.
“I wasn’t a fan of [defensive back] at first, but I learned to really love it,” he says.
“I remember my first year playing defensive back, my mom told me to try out for the provincial U16 team, and I was super scared that I would get cut and didn’t want to do it, but I actually made it as an under-aged player.”
The following season in grade nine was when Kastellanos realized he wanted to take football as far as he could. He was going to school at Glenlawn Collegiate at the time, but played for St. Vital because Glenlawn didn’t have a team. The season with the Mustangs ended in success as he claimed a provincial title.
But at the end of the year, he made the move to Dakota Collegiate.
There were a number of factors involved in his decision.
First off, a large bulk of his championship teammates from the year prior were also planning on heading to Dakota. They knew if they stuck together, they could have a core built together for a championship team a few years down the line.
Secondly, Kastellanos knew that in order to get noticed and possibly get a U SPORTS offer, he’d need to say goodbye to community football.
“Most people know, if you want to go somewhere, you have to play high school football,” he says. “Club football is a good time and it’s still competitive, but scouts and coaches won’t really look at you unless you’re exceptional.”
And finally, there was his step-dad Rick Watts, who had made a name for himself at Dakota as an all-star in volleyball, basketball and high jump.
Kastellanos credits Watts — who was named the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association Male Athlete of the Half Century in 2012 — as a massive influence in his development as a football player throughout the years.
“I just call him the guru,” he says. “He was a freak athlete and having him as a support and a guru has helped so much. I can’t thank him enough.
“He’s helped a lot with my fundamentals, so my press technique, where you line up, how much pressure you should have on your toes, all the details. It’s something that you don’t really learn anywhere else, unless someone tells you.”
With the aid of Watts, as well as valuable training from Recruit Ready and former NFL and CFLer Lamar McGriggs, Kastellanos was able to turn himself into a shut-down defensive back throughout high school.
He started in AAA as a sophomore for Dakota, and despite winning just two games over the span of his grade 10 and 11 seasons, he knew something big was coming.
Cue the core of St. Vital alumni, which included linebacker/Manitoba commit Noah Paulic and fellow defensive back Nick Conway. Along with a number of others, the Lancers battled their way to a provincial final berth.
“We all knew throughout the process that by grade 12, we would have a solid foundation of seniors and we’d be able to compete,” Kastellanos says. “And sure enough, grade 12 comes along and we make it to the championship.”
Toronto comes knocking
After a stellar high school career, it’s no surprise that Kastellanos garnered U SPORTS interest. He had sent his tape out to many universities, and one team that was quite high on him was the University of Toronto. He initially started talked to the U of T in the summer of 2017, but their head coach was then fired early that same fall.
The Dakota product didn’t talk to Toronto for a while after that, until February of 2018 when he got a text from Bob Mullen, the defensive coordinator/DB coach who got the ball re-rolling on Kastellanos’s U to T opportunity.
He went on an official visit in mid-March, and on March 31 — his birthday — he signed on the dotted line to become a Varsity Blue.
“I just look at it as opportunity, that’s all I see right now,” he says of his decision to head out east.
“Everyone knows that Toronto, they don’t play around. They have so many full-time coaches who know what they’re doing. The facilities are top-tier facilities as well. All aspects when I went there were covered, and it just satisfied me a lot.”