At Avondale High School in Avondale Estates, tuck and pull is not enough for the varsity and junior varsity football teams.

Instead, team members have been exceeding the DeKalb School System’s new dress code that outlaws sagging pants, short shorts and T-shirts with offensive language.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, the Blue Devil football players don special Avondale football polo shirts and khaki pants, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays they wear professional business attire.

Varsity head coach Michael Carson said the players have embraced their new attire since the first day of the new school year on Aug. 10. Carson also said team parents like the dress code too.

“I guess they were tired of the sagging pants as well,” he said.

Carson said he instituted the team dress code because he felt his players needed to be leaders in the school.

“We want them to look the part and dress the part,” he said. “Just the fact of wanting to be different, wanting them to step up and be the leaders of this building and being the model that everyone else follows.”

On Aug. 25 during class change, the Blue Devil players stood out among the sea of students in the corridors.

While others wore long T-shirts or baggy jeans, the football players’ collared dress shirts and ties set them apart.

Their shirts were tucked into blue jeans or khaki pants that were secured around their waist.

Douglas Scales, a junior wide receiver, said he loves the example they are setting.

“It is really not hard just to dress up,” he said. “As you can see, most of the boys in the school are starting to pull up their pants and keep them on their waist.”

Quincy Hamilton, 17, a senior wide receiver who is in his first year at Avondale, said he was used to dressing up on Thursdays when he played football at Southwest DeKalb.

He said his Avondale teammates didn’t embrace the edict at first, but that it is growing on them.

“They were mad,” he said, “No one was looking forward to dressing up every single day.”

Carson, a former assistant football coach at M.L. King High School in Lithonia, said there is a more basic purpose in the football dress code.

“The biggest thing we want to instill in these kids is discipline,” he said. “We want to let them know when there is a rule, you have to follow it.”

Carson keeps an eye out for players during the day. Those who are out of dress face penalties at practice. The punishment includes running up and down the steps of the Avondale Stadium.

AP History instructor Monica Nelson said she was impressed when she saw the football players in nice clothes at school.

“It shows confidence,” she said. “It shows a bit of bravery to say, ‘You know, I’m going to follow this man and wear this uniform everyday instead of wearing my Coogi or Rocawear. I want to be a part of the team.’ ”

Nelson said the players are setting the tone in the classroom.

“I’ve had a number of boys say ‘I wanna’ play. They are looking good walking around here,’” she said.

Assistant principal Antonio Mattox says he is now using the football team as examples of how to dress at school.

“We can point to them and say that’s where your pants should be, on the waist,” he said.

Carson, who also requires all of his players to have at least have a 3.0 grade point average, said he hasn’t heard anything but good things from school administrators and teachers about the players’ dress and attitudes. He said the positive attitude is also carrying over into the football program.

“It has really helped in what we are trying to do in terms of changing the whole culture as it relates to football and academic success,” he said.

Douglas and Quincy said they are enjoying all the positive reinforcement they are getting.

“The teachers, the assistant principals all tell us we look good,” Douglas said.

“The girls are like, ‘Y’all look nice every day,’” added Quincy.

That attention could give a teen a big ego, but not Quincy. “I don’t let it get in my head,” he said.