Standout freshman receiver Dorian Singer awarded scholarship by Arizona

Dorian Singer's time as a walk-on player at Arizona lasted just about eight months. The Minnesota native, who finished his high school career at Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, joined the Wildcats as walk-on last May. He emerged as a top receiver on the team as a freshman during the 2021 season, and Friday the program announced that Singer had been awarded a scholarship.

The move doesn't come as a surprise as head coach Jedd Fisch had previously mentioned Singer would become a scholarship player for the team as soon as it was possible. Still, the rise for the young UA receiver happened quickly as he emerged as a viable option for the team back in August training camp.

Fisch and the other members of the coaching staff praised Singer's ability to make difficult plays paving the way for him to contribute in his first season. An injury kept Singer off the field early, but he ultimately contributed in the final five games of the season making his debut with three catches and 65 yards on the road against USC.

His highlight performance came in a los against Utah in which he caught five passes for 84 yards against the Utes.

Singer made one start for the Wildcats as a freshman, and that came in the team's lone win of the year Nov. 6 against Cal. He tied his season high with five receptions in that game to end the day with 46 yards receiving in the victory.

The 6-foot-1 receiver became a big-play threat for the Wildcats offense in his first season as he was part of several long pass plays. His longest reception of 45 yards came against Utah, but he also had catches of 37 and 44 yards in his freshman season as well.

"When you're a freshman or when you're a new guy, you try to see what you can do that stands out," Arizona wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings said in training camp when Singer began to make his move up the depth chart. "From the first day, Dorian showed that when it's a vertical ball he's gonna go up and get it. So, that was the first thing that caught our eyes.

"I preach to my room that I have to have a guy that can go up and get the ball guaranteed. ... I need somebody that's gonna go make that play, and he showed early on that he could maybe be one of those guys."

There were certainly growing pains for Singer as a freshman, but his production in camp and early practices pushed the coaching staff to get him on the field. By the end of the year he became a regular contributor and is going to be in position to start once again in 2022.

"Knowledge," Fisch said when asked where Singer had developed the most as a freshman. "An enormous amount of knowledge that he's gained from coming here really late in the game. He was a summer enrollee after we got done with all aspects of ball, and then he had to embrace it. He had to understand where he was on the depth chart. He had to earn his way up every week. That's why we do those basic periods three days a week where we have our young guys go against our young guys.

"He kept getting better in those. He was a dominant performer. ... Dorian became more and more dominant, more and more dominant. When it got to the point of, 'how can we not play him?' Then he had to start showing us that he knew what he had to do on every play. Not every play he gets right, but enough of them he gets right that he's worth playing."

Singer, who was rated by Rivals.com as a three-star recruit, held Power Five offers at one point in his recruitment with schools such as Texas and Iowa State involved in pursuing him, but he ultimately decided to join the Wildcats as a walk-on player with the hope of earning the scholarship he earned this week.

He finished the season third on Arizona's receiving list with 301 yards on 18 catches.

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