I agree with what JRutledge says - generally you only need 2 by the pile, one to dig and the next to asssit and signal the direction based on whatever the guy digging tells him since (1) looks poor if the guy on his knees digging signals it, (2) easy for the digger to forget which way the teams are going.
The others should be watching everywhere else. One or more of them can come in to help if things get out of hand in the pile.
As I say in the pre-game, we don't want the whole crew in there, one grenade to get us all
