Finance specialist by day and tap dancer by night, Riley Marshall is getting attention from San José State students on social media who know him as SJSU Tapman.
Known by his handle of @sjsu.tapman on Instagram and TikTok, Marshall livestreams himself tap dancing every weekday starting at 4:30 p.m. at the circle in front of Clark Hall and the Victory Salute statue.
Marshall’s increasing fanbase of students recognize him for his popular music choices and dedication to tap dancing.
Marshall said his first social media feature to reach virality was a Jan. 28 TikTok video posted by Ma’Kayla Akin, a second-year political science student and Associated Students director of legislative affairs.
“She posted sitting right over there, just a video of me tapping and her caption was like, ‘What are your plans on Wednesday?’ and the captions like ‘oh I’m busy,’ and it’s just me dancing and that’s what you do every Wednesday is watch me dance,” Marshall said. “ It got like 30,000 views.”
Marshall has been tap dancing for 17 years, he began the hobby because his mother advised him to have extracurricular activities that are both active and artistic.
“So I was able to check those boxes, I’m nothing if not intelligently lazy,” Marshall said.
Marshall hit another social media milestone after TikTok user @thesnakthatsmilesback1 posted a video of Marshall tapping to “AssHole” by Bay Area rapper Mike Sherm on Feb. 2.
The video was reposted by Sherm and received more than 85,000 likes.
Marshall said he’s originally an University of Washington alumnus, but will enroll in San José State’s summer 2026 classes to continue studying as a chartered financial analyst.
Marshall was introduced to SJSU during a work presentation.
“During one of the panels, I got exposed to just a room full of San José students and they just had such intelligent questions and were so well dressed … it was inspiring to see,” Marshall said.
Aside from tap dancing, Marshall works as a financial planning specialist for Morgan Stanley, a financial services firm.
Marshall’s first tap dancing session at SJSU was three hours during Thanksgiving break in Fall 2024.
“I posted my Thanksgiving gratitude tap, I did it more for my family and myself just to be grateful for everything I have,” Marshall said. “It was more of a meditative thing and then over time I started doing it like twice a month.”
Marshall said his dedication to tap dancing on campus nearly everyday is spreading joy.
Mitchell Park, a third-year software engineering student, said Marshall’s upbeat personality is what brings him back.
“I think Riley is a very charismatic character,” Park said. “I think that’s the reason people tune in.”
In the future, Marshall set his sights on collaborating with San José figures such as SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson and San José City Mayor Matt Mahan.
Michelle Smith McDonald, senior director of strategic communications at SJSU, said there is a possibility of a future collaboration.
“Last semester, he gave Sammy the Spartan a tap dance lesson and I think we are preparing to share that video soon,” Smith McDonald said.
