From walk-on to ‘big-time talent’: Inside Dorian Singer’s football odyssey

Ahead of his senior year of high school, Dorian Singer made a decision that would alter his trajectory.
The Minnesota native played three years of high school football at Tartan High in Oakdale, but ahead of the 2020 season, he decided to move west to Phoenix for his senior year.
The move to Pinnacle High, one of the top high school football programs in Arizona, was rooted in Singer’s desire to get on the radars of Division I coaches, something that wasn’t happening while playing in Minnesota, despite catching 35 passes for 813 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2019 at Tartan while also adding five interceptions as a safety, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Singer was hopeful the move to Phoenix would generate some Division I offers, but it didn’t help matters when his final season of high school football came during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recruiting showcase camps were canceled or limited, Pinnacle played a shortened schedule of seven games (Singer had 664 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 37 catches) and the extra year of eligibility for players on college teams due to the pandemic meant that there were fewer scholarships to go around.
Singer had FCS scholarship offers, but he knew he was a Division I talent — even if he had been overlooked by colleges around the nation. Even with the offer of a full-ride scholarship at the lower level, he bet on himself. Arizona offered him a preferred walk-on spot, and because he was living in Phoenix, it made things easy — he didn’t have to move again, and could stay close to his new home.
What wasn’t easy was paying his own way through his first year at Arizona while hoping he could stick on the team. About two months before the 2021 season started, Singer arrived on campus in Tucson, only getting fall camp to acclimate to new head coach Jedd Fisch and offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll’s offense before the season began.
“It was a hard process,” Singer said of walking on in Tucson.
Singer put his head down and went to work, knowing that, as a walk-on, he wouldn’t see the field right away. Arizona’s more veteran players took him under their wing and embraced him, helping him learn and grow. The freshman receiver was doing everything possible in practices to stand out, and while he didn’t see a single snap through Arizona’s first eight weeks of the season, his time was coming.
Singer played in the last five games of the Wildcats’ 1-11 season, gaining valuable experience at the college level, and showing some of his potential with an 18-catch, 301-yard finish to the season. He had impressed Fisch enough to get awarded a scholarship shortly after the 2021 campaign, earned a starting role on next year’s team, and made good on his bet on himself.
“When they put me on scholarship, it was a relief for me and my family because I don’t come from a lot,” Singer said.
The development Singer received from Fisch, Carroll and wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings proved invaluable, and with work in the offseason, he was set to make that sophomore leap.
“I feel like they helped me a lot, Coach Fisch and Coach Cummings, in the offense. The offense that they brought to the table really helped me understand how an NFL offense run and how to scheme against defense,” Singer said.
Singer’s play in 2022 blew past the typical improvement seen from players in their second year, as he turned into not only one of the most productive receivers in the Pac-12, but the nation.
The sophomore receiver built on the positive momentum he gained the year prior, racking up 1,105 yards and six scores on 66 receptions. At 6-foot and 181 pounds Singer didn’t have the natural physical advantages of other star receivers, and isn’t as fast as the top-line guys, but he made up for that with good route-running, fantastic hands, and an uncanny ability to come down with contested balls.
Through hard work and perseverance, Singer had gone from an undersized, overlooked high school player to one of the more productive receivers in college football, and schools across the nation took notice.
After a stellar 2022 campaign, Singer would transfer to USC, teaming up with Heisman-winner Caleb Williams, but was lost in the mix in Hollywood. This fall, he chalked up his lack of production last year to “opportunity that the coaching staff gives me” — he saw 405 fewer snaps with the Trojans compared to the previous year — and entered the transfer portal for the second time.
Utah had been interested the first time Singer entered the portal, and this time around, he committed to Kyle Whittingham’s program, with the chance to play with quarterback Cam Rising, a WR1 role in Andy Ludwig’s pro-style offense, and Utah’s family atmosphere checking the boxes for him.
“The coaching staff really, they’ve been together for, I don’t want to over exaggerate, 20 years-plus, but it’s almost been that 20 years-plus. So I know my last year coming in I wanted to be with a family-oriented (culture) and I wanted to come into a culture that I know is built and that I know I can fit into,” Singer said.
Singer’s arrival gave the Utes a new lead receiver after the departure of last year’s leading pass-catcher Devaughn Vele, who was drafted by the Denver Broncos. In spring practices, Singer immediately started showing why the Utes made him such a priority pickup, and that continued into fall camp.
“Well, first of all, he is an exceptional football player,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said this fall. “I mean, he does things out on the practice field that you just go, ‘Wow.’ You just look at each other as coaches and say, ‘Yeah, that’s why we brought him here.’ And so he’s got maybe certainly one of the best sets of hands that we’ve had ever in our program.”
It took a bit for what Whittingham saw in practice to show up on the field on Saturdays — the tight ends were so wide open in the opener against Southern Utah that Singer didn’t see the ball thrown his way a ton, and against Baylor, Utah went conservative in the second half after Rising exited with an injury.
Against Utah State, with Isaac Wilson under center, Singer started making an impact. The two had started developing that chemistry during spring ball, continuing in the fall, and it showed. Singer had five catches for 66 yards, including a 25-yard reception, in the Utes’ win against the Aggies in Logan.
“Definitely started in the spring, definitely, getting both reps with Cam and Isaac during the spring helped a lot with our chemistry and they just kept building on as we got in the summer,” Singer said.
Last Saturday, as then-No. 12 Utah beat then-No. 14 Oklahoma State with Wilson under center yet again, the senior receiver proved to be one of the key options for the true freshman, finishing the game with seven receptions for 95 yards. It was not only his best game as a Ute, but his most productive game since 2022.
“It means a lot to me, just being involved in the offense,” Singer said. “No matter if I’m getting the targets or not, whether I’m helping in the blocking game or the passing game. As long as we get the dub at the end of the day, that’s all that matters to us and the team.”
Singer’s circus catch in the late first quarter was one of the wildest grabs in Ute history, as he pinned the ball against his helmet, then the back of his shoulder, for a 6-yard gain on third-and-nine that helped get the Utes close enough to go for it on fourth down.
Wilson converted the fourth-down pass to Money Parks, then Cole Becker made a field goal later in the drive for Utah’s first points of the day; none of that would have been possible if not for Singer’s crazy catch.
“It was just about concentration. When I felt the ball in my hands, I knew to just attach it to my body and catch it,” Singer said.
Singer’s ability to catch contested balls and fight for yards after the catch shined through time and again in Stillwater as he gained a game-high 48 yards after catch, providing a reliable option for Wilson.
“I think what you saw Saturday was more indicative of what we should be able to utilize him week in and week out. That was his most productive game of the season on Saturday,” Whittingham said. “He’s a complete player. He’ll block for you. He’s made some big blocks for us this year in the run game. He’s tough. His hands are incredible.”
For the second time in his career, Singer is gearing up to face the team that gave him his college football shot (Singer played 44 snaps against Arizona in 2023 with USC, but did not record any stats).
“He’s a big-time talent and I’m sure he’ll be extra motivated this week,” Whittingham said.
The team on the other side will look different than when Singer was last there.
Fisch, Carroll and Cummings, along with some former Arizona players Singer keeps in contact with, are all at Washington now, but Singer has stayed close with Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita, receiver Tetairoa McMillan and cornerback Tacario Davis, all of whom stayed in Tucson.
McMillian is one of the country’s top receivers, and Singer has first-hand knowledge of how explosive he can be.
“I’m definitely a T-Mac fan. I played with him, he’s definitely a great player. I’m excited to see what he does and I’m excited to see our defense, of course, shut him down,” Singer said.
It’s all business for Singer this week — he’s not talking trash to any of his old teammates via text — but when the game is over, he’s excited to reunite with them.
“Definitely seeing the guys I played against after the game, talking to them would be special. But obviously during the game, it’s us vs. them,” Singer said.