A recent addition to the Salisbury High football team walked into Raymond Daugherty’s office Monday and asked about a locker.

Daugherty had none to offer, which didn’t seem to faze the new player a bit.

And Salisbury’s second-year head coach certainly didn’t mind. The thought of a full locker room left him smiling.

“Two years ago, we finished with 40 players — total,” he said. “We had to fold our jayvee program. Last year we ended with 62 and there seems to be a lot of interest in the program right now.

“Several of our practices, I’ve been tempted to sell tickets,” he added with a laugh. “There’ve been so many people watching, and that’s a good sign.”

As a general rule, interest falls to programs with two losses over the span of three seasons, not two wins. The Hornets went 0-11 last season, and it wasn’t a pretty 0-11. Only once did an opponent fail to score fewer than 30 points. Only once did Salisbury come within single digits of a win.

The two seasons prior netted 1-10 campaigns, and the sporting landscape looked bleak.

Signs of life emerged, though, and in an unlikely place — the basketball court. The Hornets boys basketball team didn’t follow a dismal fall with a winter of discontent. Instead, led by gridiron heroes Ken Drye, Steve Blanton and Markeice Daugherty and departing seniors Terry Johnson and Justin Johnson, Salisbury snuck into the 2A Central Carolina Conference playoff picture.

Drye flew around the court, taking charges, diving for balls and pumping up the crowd. Blanton did the dirty work off the bench, actually finding himself bloodied by an elbow during the Hornets’ first playoff game, which they won. Even with a loss to eventual state runner-up Northwood in the second round, the seeds of victory had been planted.

“As soon as we finished basketball, I went straight to the weight room and tried to get as many people as I could to work out really hard,” said Drye, who offers some powers of coercion at a rock solid 6-feet, 180 pounds. “We don’t want to go 0-11 again. People are hitting a lot harder in practice. I think we’re ready this year.”

Other signs seem to point that way. In the past, transfers out of Salisbury decimated the football team. This year, four players came in, including North Rowan tailback Jamel Alexander, who figures to start at running back; North’s Jerry Miller, a quarterback prospect; and defensive backs Fred Cuthbertson from North and C.J. Mears from West Rowan.

“We’ve got a unique situation here between North Rowan and Salisbury. A lot of these kids run in the same crowd together,” Daugherty said. “So when I open the weight room in the summer, they’re in here lifting together. I’m not running anybody off.

“It’s odd the way things work,” he added. “Last year we had 10 seniors and six or seven juniors come out for the first time. Now, we’ve got 20-plus seniors. We’ve retained these players, and we’re getting young kids to come out, which makes us feel good as coaches.”

Now one feeling remains. The Hornets have to turn all of these good feelings and positive energy into scoring drives, defensive stands and wins.

“We know we’re better, but when you’ve been 0-11, better doesn’t mean you’re good,” Daugherty said. “We know we’ve closed the gap on some teams, but we don’t know how much closer we are yet.”

Daugherty most wants a successful season for the seniors who’ve put in their time and not seen positive results on the scoreboard. He rattled off names like T.J. Johnson, T.J. Hosch, Austin Imes, Preston Jones, Steve Blanton — all seniors who watched the Hornets win two games over the past three seasons.

“I think we’ve got the program going in the right direction after some lean years,” Daugherty said. “Those lean years mean nothing to me. We’re just looking at what’s ahead of us.”

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Sportswriter Steve Hanf covers football for the Post.