Wayne Dorsey was a Sun second-team All-Baltimore City selection in boys basketball at Southwestern High School in 2006.

James Carmon was a two-time All-Metro selection on the offensive line at City College, where he graduated in 2008.

Though two years apart in age, and better known for different sports in high school, Dorsey and Carmon are both on the same track now, which could very well lead to the SEC for football in 2010.

Dorsey, a 6-foot-8, 255-pound defensive end, and Carmon, a 6-foot-7, 370-pound defensive tackle, both completed standout freshman seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College this fall. The Baltimore linemen helped the Bulldogs to a 10-2 season.

“Both of them are here and both of them are doing great,” said Mississippi Gulf Coast coach Steve Campbell. “They both had great summer semesters, had a lot of credit hours under their belt, they came back and had real strong [fall] semesters in the classroom and on the football field. They helped lead us to a state championship. Both are looking forward to great sophomore years. They’ve already generated a lot of interest from Southeastern Conference schools. We even had Southern Cal call [two weeks ago] about both of them.”

Dorsey, a two-sport standout at Southwestern, was supposed to sign with Virginia Tech’s football program in 2007, according to Scout.com. There was an issue with the NCAA clearinghouse and he was rerouted to Milford (N.Y.) Academy. Minnesota then offered a scholarship, but another clearinghouse issue arose, at which point Dorsey decided on Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Carmon played football and basketball for City. He had plenty of Div. I interest but needed some work in the classroom.

Campbell, who coached MGCCC to a national championship in 2007, said his staff discovered both Baltimore products while looking at a different lineman in the Mid-Atlantic region.

“We found another big kid up in Virginia. It didn’t work out with him,” Campbell said. “[An assistant coach] had another couple days to look around and ended up in Baltimore looking for big guys that were athletic. The coach got put on Wayne and we found Wayne, hunted him down and squared him away. Another coach told him to see this guy play on the basketball court, and that was James. Six-foot-seven, 370 pounds running down the court. So we watched some highlights of him on You Tube and got him signed up.”

Eighteen MGCCC sophomores signed with four-year schools last month, including seven with Div. I schools. The most notable recent MGCCC graduate is Alabama defensive tackle Terrence Cody, who’s considered a surefire first-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft. Campbell thinks Dorsey and Carmon are both positioned well to make a similar jump from junior college to major Division I programs.

“Wayne is a great athlete,” Campbell said. “He’s a 6-8 kid that can really run and is athletic. He’s a very athletic young man that has great hands and feet. He’s an outstanding kid with a great work ethic. He has a good family back home. Both have great support systems back home.

“James, he’s 6-7, weighs 370 pounds and the thing that makes him special is that he can move so well for a guy that big. He came in here bench pressing something around 275 pounds. [Two weeks ago] the last set he did was 450 pounds on the bench. He’s got freakish strength and he can move so well for a guy that’s 6-7, 370 pounds.”

Both Dorsey and Carmon have been offered scholarships by Tennessee, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, according to Campbell. They could end up at the same school, but Campbell said he doesn’t necessarily expect the pair to be a package deal. They’re both on track to graduate from MGCCC in December and be ready to enroll in college by January 2010. Campbell thinks Dorsey and Carmon will live up to those lofty standards of those that played for Mississippi Gulf Coast before them.

“We’re always looking for those diamonds in the rough,” Campbell said. “They’re either under the radar because of grades, they’re too big or too small, but they’re special football players. We can only take eight out-of-state football players, so we need them to be guys that are future NFL players, which I believe [Carmon and Dorsey] are.”

Credits: Baltimore Sun photo of Dorsey (left) by Glenn Fawcett (Jan. 4, 2007). Carmon photo by Gene Sweeney Jr. (Dec. 5, 2006)