Red Level football coach Tony Ingram made it clear how much work his team is putting in this summer.

“These guys are working harder than any other bunch I’ve seen since I started working here,” he said. “I feel better about this summer than I have in years. These kids, are showing up, and they’re working and it’s just their work ethic alone has gotten me excited.”

Ingram said he is averaging 30 kids per day, which “for us, is really good.”

“The numbers are just off the charts,” said. “We had 40 kids (July 7).”

The Tigers started their summer workouts on June 12, two weeks after school let out, and have been working three days each week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — working more than three hours each day. Fridays are the longest day for the team because the workout involves extra running, he said.

Ingram said the team does typical workouts focusing on the core lifts — bench press, power clings, squats, hang clings and front squats, to name a few.

In addition, players work on the supplements, including plyometrics.

“Then, we go on the field, and we run,” Ingram said.

He said they’ll do running exercises such as shuttle runs and running hills and ladders, which require players to run different lengths of the field without stopping.

In late June, Red Level competed at Pleasant Home’s 7-on-7 football tournament, and Ingram said the team looked good given the amount of work they have done on “pass routs.”

“I thought it was outstanding for no more work than we did on our routs,” Ingram said. “We went out and threw a couple day. We made a lot of mistakes, but the effort was there.

“What I wanted to see was there,” he said. “The hustle and the effort was there — anything else, we can fix.”

The team will have its first opportunity to demonstrate its new skill level at Straughn’s 7-on-7 tourney set for Thurs., July 29.

The first day of fall practice is Mon., Aug. 2, which is less than a month away.

Ingram said the focus these last few weeks will be mainly on offense and defense.

“It’ll be techniques and routs, which is something we’ve never really focused on,” he said. “We want to throw the ball more, but we’ve got to do work as far as timing and our routs.”

Red Level will transition to working out every day in the week after this week of workouts.

“Summer has absolutely flown by,” Ingram said. “(The fall football season is) fixing to be here. You don’t really get a sense of that until you go to something like that 7-on-7, and you say, ‘Wow, it’s fixing to be here.’ It just never does, and we’re just anxious to get started.”