Sanders’ Decision Paying Off : High school football: After switching from basketball two seasons ago, Dorsey lineman has become a top prospect.

Two years ago, Dwayne Sanders had never played organized football. At 6 feet 6 and 200 pounds, his calling seemed to be basketball.

But his aggressive style of play did not work well on the court. Sanders liked to throw elbows, and as a result he fouled out of many games by the third quarter.

Becoming increasingly frustrated, he took the advice of some close friends and decided to try out for the football team at Dorsey High.

The switch paid off. In two seasons, Sanders bulked up to 235 pounds and became a starting defensive lineman. His size and agility have impressed recruiters so much that the senior is considered one of the top prospects in the Southland.

He spurned offers from Nebraska, Fresno State and Nevada Las Vegas and plans to sign a letter of intent with Washington State today, national signing day.

Whether Sanders gets to Washington State is another matter. He has yet to meet the Proposition 48 academic standards. He is making up required core classes in English and math and plans to retake the Scholastic Aptitude Test on Saturday.

If Sanders cannot meet academic requirements, he will probably attend El Camino College in Torrance in the fall and work on getting the necessary grades to enroll at Washington State the next year.

If he were a Prop. 48 casualty, Sanders could attend Washington State in the fall, but he would lose a year of eligibility and would have to pay his own way.

“Although money is a factor, I really don’t want to get so out of football that I miss an entire season,” Sanders said. “I just want to keep playing.”

Sanders, 17, didn’t show much interest in sports until he grew five inches to 6-1 between eighth and ninth grade and then went out for basketball at Foshay Junior High.

As a sophomore at Dorsey, he played center on the junior varsity.

By his junior year, Sanders was 6-6 and 200 pounds. He said he felt like a man among boys and needed an outlet for his energy. Football players Cedric White and Byron Kimbrew talked him into giving football a try.

“I never felt like playing football when I was younger because I was scared of it,” Sanders said. “I watched it on television all of the time, but I had never actually played it and didn’t know if I could succeed.”

Dorsey was coming off a City championship season when Sanders decided to go out for the team.

Coach Paul Knox says he had doubts about Sanders’ work ethic in the beginning, especially when he struggled through two-a-day workouts in late August and early September.

Other coaches thought Sanders was too thin and too slow.

But in a matter of weeks the doubters became believers. Sanders, originally an offensive tackle, was switched to the defensive line and was a starter by the fourth game. His first start was at nose guard, but he eventually settled in at defensive end.

“We all thought Dwayne was a little soft because of basketball,” Knox said. “I knew he had the potential to play, but I figured it wouldn’t be until his senior year. The first day he put on the pads, however, he really knocked some people, and I knew at that point that we had a ballplayer on our hands.”

Sanders continues to gain strength and lifts weights for 90 minutes at school every day and again later at home.

The Dons were eliminated by Wilmington Banning in the semifinals of the playoffs in 1990, with a bench-clearing brawl marring the end of the game.

Sanders worked toward putting a different finish on his senior season.

Knox said Sanders’ play on the defensive line continued to improve, and opposing coaches began running the ball away from him. Quarterbacks feared Sanders, who had 13 sacks and 70 tackles as a senior.

“I love to rush the quarterback,” Sanders said. “That’s my favorite thing.”

The anticipated rematch with Banning during the regular season was called off when Banning coaches and players voted to forfeit the game at Dorsey for fear of gang violence. The school’s home football field, Jackie Robinson Stadium, had been the site of two shooting incidents last fall.

The teams met in the City championship at El Camino College. Played before a sellout crowd of 12,000, Dorsey won, 33-30. After the game, Banning coaches praised the Dons’ defense, and many singled out Sanders.

Sanders was unanimously voted to the All-City team, but his troubles meeting NCAA academic standards scared off dozens of schools that had shown interest early, including Colorado and Oklahoma.

“I worked so hard to get to this point that I never envisioned what it would be like to be a top prospect,” Sanders said. “The attention made me work harder, but I guess I forgot that I needed to put as much attention into my classes as I was into football.

“I learned that lesson the hard way, but I’m taking care of things now and I’m confident everything will work out.”

Sanders’ mother, JoAnn, said football has made her son more mature.

“Football has given him a sense of responsibility,” she said. “He’s much more serious now and very committed to what he’s doing. He realized football was his call, and he worked hard at it. I’m proud of what he’s done.”

Sanders’ next project is to get his younger brother, Dwight, to go out for the football team at Dorsey. Dwight is a freshman and already 6-3.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be out on the football field next fall,” Sanders said. “Hopefully, he’s learned something from my experiences.”