Former Arizona receiver Dorian Singer was long on USC's radar

Between conversations on the sidelines with coaches and teammates, Caleb Williams couldn’t help but plant his eyes on the video board on the south side of Arizona Stadium.

The USC quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner was in awe of Arizona wide receiver Dorian Singer.

Singer, who was second in the Pac-12 with 1,105 yards last season, had seven catches for 141 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 45-37 loss to USC in 2022. One of those touchdown catches was an acrobatic one-handed, left-handed catch around Trojans defensive back Jaylin Smith.

“He made a bunch of great catches, and I looked over at one of our coaches and said ‘After this season, are we gonna go get him?’” Williams said at Pac-12 Media Day.

Williams’ wish came true in the offseason when Singer transferred to USC, the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12 this season. Singer’s replacement at Arizona will be former Colorado receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig.

“It ended up working out with us getting him,” Williams said of Singer. “He made maybe the best catch I’ve ever seen in person, in practice. When you throw the ball to him, and I try to throw a perfect ball every single play I get because it’s my job ... most of the time it’s going to be caught. I can’t wait.”

In the spring, Singer, a former walk-on from St. Paul, Minnesota, said he wanted a “different opportunity for me.”

“That was the biggest thing for me; winning culture, stuff like that,” Singer said.

Singer was asked in March about the talent disparity at receiver between Arizona and USC, and he said there’s “a huge difference from the place I came just seeing the competition level.”

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Singer is a preseason First Team All-Pac-12 selection and will join a receiver corps at USC that includes former Oklahoma transfer Mario Williams, Colorado transfer Brenden Rice, five-star freshman Zachariah Branch and senior Tahj Washington, who erupted for a season-high seven catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns against the Wildcats last season.

“It’s like every day, you really have to compete because the man next to you is, if not better than you, he’s the same,” he said.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley is hopeful Singer “will do the same thing to everybody else that he did to us last year.”

“Dorian was tremendous, really was tremendous the whole season. A lot of great tape. A lot of production,” Riley said. “When he entered the transfer portal, it was a pretty obvious person for us to have some interest in.”

The Trojans also added multi-year defensive starters from Arizona in cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace and defensive tackle Kyon Barrs. Roland-Wallace, the Palm Desert, California, native, was heavily recruited by the Trojans, but despite a last-minute push by USC, he signed with the Wildcats in 2019.

Barrs earned All-Pac-12 Second Team honors in 2021 and left Arizona after recording 102 tackles and five sacks over his four-year career. Riley said he “was really impressed by both Kyon and Christian in our game” last season, and the addition of Barrs and Roland-Wallace “made a lot of sense.”

Singer, Barrs and Roland-Wallace’s experience “game experience in this league” gives the Trojans depth as they look to potentially represent the Pac-12 in the College Football Playoff during their last season in the conference before they bolt for the Big Ten in 2024.

“They’re guys that are all three physically in a great place,” Riley said. “They’ve done a great job developing through their careers, I think have continued to develop as they’ve been on our campus.

“Listen, at the end of the day, once they went into the portal and we were able to have conversations, the key characteristic with all three ... those guys all really, really wanted to be at USC.

“This was not like a deal where you feel like you’re going out of your way to convince these guys. I think they sensed the opportunity that was there. They wanted to be a part of it. There was not a lot of back and forth, which always, I think, is a very healthy sign.”