Barney Chavous was perched on the back of his pickup truck one day this week when a noise from the T.W. Josey football field startled the coach.

The cadence of his team counting off jumping jacks sounded like a roar.

"I haven't heard it that loud in awhile," Chavous said, laughing. "That feels good."

In the new Region 3-AAAA, at least three teams that didn't make the playoffs last year will earn berths this season. One of those could be Josey, which probably will field a larger team than its coach typically expects.

"This is about the best team attitude I've had here," said Chavous, who is entering his seventh season at the school. "They're going to fight to the end, and you can win with guys like that."

The Eagles have made the playoffs just twice since winning a state title in 1995. Their last playoff berth was in 1999, the last time they won more than four games.

Chavous is encouraged this year for two reasons: He believes he has a handful of playmakers returning and has been blessed with a participation surge since school started two weeks ago.

The Eagles dressed 33 players for a scrimmage against Laney last Saturday. Late this week at practice, Chavous counted 46 players stretching and another three waiting to be issued practice jerseys. Chavous said about 20 players have joined the team in the past 10 days.

With as many as eight players expected to see significant time on both offense and defense, Chavous is counting on the new players to add depth, which could be a problem against region opponents that will dress 70 or 80 players. Chavous hopes to dress "around 45" each game, including as many as five freshmen.

"I don't mind playing freshmen; some people do, but I don't have any hang-ups about that," he said. "I do it because I remember what it was like for me."

Chavous said he was forced to contribute right away in his first year in college at South Carolina State and in the NFL at Denver.

Running back Charles Hankerson and quarterback Brandon Brown both return from last season, as does standout linebacker Tywain Brown.

Chavous was most pleased after the Laney scrimmage with sophomore Darnell Brown, who played some quarterback in the second half and guided the Eagles to their lone score.

He said it's not an issue which Brown plays quarterback. He just wants to get Darnell Brown the ball at any position.

"Darnell gave us a big lift (against Laney) ... we should have scored twice," Chavous said. "He can makes some plays."