Dorian Singer is just about to start answering questions from a reporter when veteran linebacker Tony Jones walks by, points at him and says, “Best in the league!”
It may be a tad bit early to crown the rookie receiver with a title like that, but you can’t fault Jones and the rest of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for being enamored.
In just seven games, Singer has quickly proven to be one of the most dangerous weapons in the CFL. And nobody in blue and gold is surprised.
(John Woods / The Canadian Press files)
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will need rookie receiver Dorian Singer (right) in the air battle on Saturday against the Toronto Argonauts.
“A bunch of guys saw it in camp and throughout practice when he wasn’t on the roster,” said safety Redha Kramdi.
“I remember him making a couple catches on scout team and I looked over at JY (defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger) and said, ‘We need to find a way to get that guy on the roster.’ He’s special. He’s humble, but he knows it. He’s playing high level football, he’s super talented, and he’s a good kid, too.”
Singer will make his post-season debut Saturday when the Bombers face the Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern semifinal at BMO Field. With four catches for 119 yards and a touchdown, his fingerprints were all over Winnipeg’s regular-season finale defeat of the B.C. Lions that clinched a post-season berth.
But in order to become a key piece of an offence at this level, Singer had to ignore a long list of doubters.
Matt Diediker, his coach at Tartan Senior High School in Oakdale, Minn., certainly wasn’t one of them.
“Even his freshman year, you could tell he was going to be a unique and a once in a while type of player because he was very athletic,” Diediker told the Free Press.
“You threw anything within a five-foot radius, he found a way to come down with it and do something electric with it.”
It didn’t seem to matter. There wasn’t a single NCAA program from a Power 5 conference that had interest in Singer – at least not as a receiver.
“The only Power 5 team interested was Iowa State and it was to play defence. But I didn’t want to play defence. I was a receiver at heart,” said Singer.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t want to hit nobody: I just wanted to catch the ball. I had 12 picks in high school, but I didn’t really want to tackle anybody.”
When Singer was a sophomore and junior, Diediker brought him around to several notable Midwest programs, but no one was budging. They ignored the eye test and instead focused in on his measurables.
“Every time he tested, he wouldn’t be in that upper echelon, that elite 40-yard dash time that these guys were looking for,” said Diediker.
“A lot of them, honestly, were telling him, ‘We’d like you to play defence.’ Because while he was an electric receiver, he was also playing cornerback and safety for us and making ridiculous interceptions. But if you know Dorian then or now, he’s a receiver and always wanted to be.”
(Codie McLachlan / The Canadian Press files)
In just seven games, Singer (left) is averaging a whopping 20.1 yards per catch — the most by any player with more than 10 catches. In the regular-season finale last Friday alone, the rookie had four catches for 119 yards and a touchdown.
The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out high school football in Minnesota for Singer’s senior season. Sitting out for a year wasn’t going to build his case to be a receiver at the next level, so he transferred to Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Ariz., to keep playing. The family of Pinnacle’s quarterback Devon Dampier ended up taking him in.
Singer’s parents signed over legal guardianship.
“At first, it was really hard for me because I was like, ‘This is my baby. I don’t want my baby to be in another state and I can’t get to him if I need to,” Singer’s mom, LaMonica Haynes, told the Free Press.
“But he was like, ‘Mom, it’s gonna help me with my career.’ So, I had to sit and really think about it. But once I thought about it, I thought if it’s gonna better his career, then I’m going to take a leap of faith and just let him go.”
After impressing at Pinnacle, Singer once again bet on himself by walking on at the University of Arizona where he went on to have 66 catches, 1,105 receiving yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore.
He couldn’t be denied after that.
From there, he took his talents to the University of Southern California where he caught passes from now Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. He then closed out his college career at Utah before trying out for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent last season where he was one of the final cuts.
“That’s the cool part of his story,” said Diediker.
“Everywhere he’s gone, he’s gone into it as maybe not the top tier, preferred, five-star recruit or prospect, but he earns his way to becoming one of the best players on the team.”
That’s been the case in Winnipeg.
He was a standout in training camp, but the Bombers and head coach Mike O’Shea — for reasons that still have not been made clear — signed Singer to the practice squad and left him there for the first 11 games.
If he was frustrated or upset about not playing, he certainly wasn’t showing it. Those around him daily have said he just kept his head down, kept working, and stayed positive.
“My role model is my mom. I saw her battle through a lot of adversity every day. She raised three kids, still got up every day to go to work no matter how hard life got,” said Singer, 24.
(Jessica Tobias / The Associated Press files)
Singer closed out his college career at Utah after a talented run at the University of Arizona and University of Southern California.
“No matter how hard it gets, as long as you keep pushing, it’s gonna get great later.”
Things have been great for Zach Collaros and Dru Brown at quarterback now that they have a legitimate deep threat to throw the ball to. Singer is averaging a whopping 20.1 yards per catch — the most by any player with more than 10 catches — by hauling in 29 passes for 584 yards and three scores. If he played the full season, he likely would’ve eclipsed 1,000 yards with ease.
When Brown replaced an injured Collaros last week, he immediately went to Singer with a 46-yard bomb that opened the floodgates for the Bombers.
“It’s meant a lot knowing that this team can trust me with the ball in my hands,” said Singer.
“This team believes in me and we believe in each other to go out there to get it done no matter who’s at quarterback. I love them both to death. Every quarterback on the roster has always vouched for me since Day 1. No matter who’s out there, I’m gonna go to war for them.”
Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter
The Bombers will need Singer in a big way on Saturday. The Argos, led by star quarterback Chad Kelly, love to air it out early and often. It’ll take more than a ground-and-pound attack to not just keep up, but eclipse Toronto’s total on the scoreboard.
It’s safe to say Singer is confident he can help with that.
“Some people call them 50-50 balls, but I call it 100-0. When the ball is in the air, it’s either mine or nobody’s,” said Singer.
“I try my best to come down with every ball thrown my way so I can get the quarterback’s trust and when the game is on the line, No. 17 is going to make a play.”
winnipegfreepress.com/taylorallen
Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.
Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.