USC’s Dorian Singer working to build chemistry with Caleb Williams
LOS ANGELES — The awe swelled in Caleb Williams’ voice in late July, a smile blossoming across the USC quarterback’s face as he spoke of the man who could become his next game-breaker.
As he told it at Pac-12 Media Day, from a question by the Arizona Daily Star’s Justin Spears, Williams was watching Arizona receiver Dorian Singer shred the Trojans during USC’s 45-37 victory over the Wildcats last season – 141 yards, three touchdowns – and leaned over to a coach on the sideline.
“I said, ‘After the season, are we going to go get him?’” Williams said at the media day podium.
They got him, as Singer transferred to USC in the offseason. And mark the date down: Williams’ effusive praise at media day – when he said Singer had made “maybe the best catch I’d ever seen” – furthered a blooming bond between the junior signal-caller and 6-foot outside dynamo.
Recently, Singer said on Wednesday, he’d moved his locker next to the one occupied by Williams.
Why? Didn’t know, he grinned. Just “felt like it.”
“It means a lot,” Singer said, when asked Wednesday about Williams’ praise. “Just for the simple fact that prior to me knowing him, he said a lot of great things about me.”
“Me getting to know him better as a person, it’s really good,” Singer continued, “because it’s like, he trusts me with (his) life, and I trust him with mine as well.”
On June 8, Singer shared a documentary-style clip to his Instagram chronicling his journey at USC. Sitting at a table underneath a blue sky, reflecting on his move, he’s captured delivering the impassioned sentence: “Somebody told me like, imagine if you did what you did at Arizona in L.A.”
Such production would be a mind-blowing sight in the Trojans’ offense. Singer racked up 1,105 yards on 66 catches with six touchdowns last season, an explosion that has him on the 2023 Biletnikoff Award Watch List despite being new to USC’s system.
When asked about the Instagram clip Wednesday, though, Singer shrugged off the notion he was trying to replicate a previous version of himself.
“The mentality is just – every time I’m out there, make it the best,” Singer said Wednesday. “Even if it’s a run play, pass play. What I did last year was good and all – it was very good what I did last year – but it’s a new year with a new team, so I’m just excited to see what I could do.”
A new team, indeed, one freshly stocked up on Air Raid missiles despite the loss of now-graduated Jordan Addison, last year’s leading receiver. Singer will have to fight for touches with a bevy of fixtures – namely Mario Williams, fellow Biletnikoff watchlist nominee Tahj Washington and Brenden Rice among them, all of whom racked up more than 600 yards last season – and a cavernous depth chart supported by an influx of dynamic freshmen.
Singer had particular superlatives for freshman Ja’Kobi Lane, a lanky 6-foot-5 receiver out of Arizona who has notably bounced out for every practice with a gleaming smile.
“His ball-catching ability – he remind me of myself,” Singer said. “When the ball’s in the air, go get it, at the highest point.”
“He’s like a little brother to me,” Singer continued. “So, yeah, we’re together all the time … just trying to be a mentor for him, because he’s the next generation to come out for the SC wide receiver group. So I want to make sure that if one go down, he’s ready to step up and play a big role, so it’s no drop-off in that category.”